DEATH AND DISEASE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 428, 9 August 1928, Page 1

DEATH AND DISEASE

COMPULSORY POSTMORTEMS URGED

AID TO MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE Press Association. HAMILTON, To-day. The p.lea that post-mortem examinations be compulsory in all deaths was made by Dr. G. W. Gower, surgeon-superintendent of the Waikato Hospital, when lecturing here last evening. He opened his remarks on this subject by referring to the difficulty of diagnosing cancer. “When a patient dies of supposed cancer and this has not been verified by operation, microscopical examination by post-mortem examination should be made,” he said. “This is in the interests of the living, and, in my opinion, should be compulsory; in fact, I would go further and say that post-mortem examination should be made in all kinds of disease, and the doctor who attended the patient should be present. The lessons learned would be invaluable in the diagnosis and treatment of others.” Speaking from memory, he said, he believed that post-mortem examinations were already made in all cases in Austria, and in some American hospitals realtives were induced to agree to them. In the great majority of cases in New Zealand, as elsewhere, there was some sentiment against it, but once the practice became general people would think nothing of it. The present practice was slipshod. A doctor having made a diagnosis gave a death certificate upon that diagnosis. Medical knowledge would be greatly assisted by universal post-mor-tem examinations, and doctors would prefer to know the truth even if they were shown to be wrong.