Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Symmetric Bihemispheric Postmortem Brain Cutting to Study Healthy and Pathological Brain Conditions in Humans
Published on: December 18, 2016
Is Consent to Autopsy Necessary? Cartesian Dualism in Medicine and Its Limitations
Megan Lane, Christian J Vercler1
1Assistant professor of surgery and co-director of the Clinical Ethics Program at the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he also co-chairs the adult and pediatric ethics committees and teaches medical ethics at the undergraduate, medical student, and post-graduate levels, and a practicing craniofacial surgeon and has master's degrees in both theology and bioethics.
Abstract:
When a hospitalization ends in death, a request for an autopsy can lead to an emotionally charged encounter between a physician and the deceased patient's family. A case is presented in which a cardiac surgeon, believing he might have made a mistake, requests an autopsy, but members of the deceased patient's family believe that she would not have wanted an autopsy performed. A central question discussed in this commentary is whether and when consent for autopsy is necessary. We discuss two theoretical frameworks that support differing views on this question. Beyond engaging this philosophical discussion, we also highlight a practical approach to discussing an autopsy with a grieving family by using the case presented.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Psychosurgery
Historical Development of Psychosurgery
In the 1930s, Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz introduced a surgical procedure designed...
Anatomical Positions
The body is upright, facing forward, and standing erect.
The feet are parallel and flat on the floor.
The arms are hanging by the...
Directional Terms
Body Planes
The sagittal plane is the plane that divides the body or an organ vertically into right and left sides. If this vertical plane runs directly down the middle of the body resulting in equal division, it is called the midsagittal or median...
Positron Emission Tomography
One of the main requirements of a PET scan is a positron-emitting radioisotope, which is produced in a cyclotron and then attached to a substance used by the part of the body...

