It is regrettable that so few people understand the medical advances that have resulted from discoveries made at autopsy. Unfortunately I know of no book that tells about them. But for instance, my mother's mother died of a pulmonary artery infarct because it was not known in 1891 that it was a very bad idea to keep women in bed many days after childbirth. Because no autopsy was done, the cause of my grandmother's death could not be understood, and the guesses as to the cause were wildly inaccurate.Only fifty years later when autopsies revealed the emboli blocking the right side of the heart were discovered could the causative factors be understood, and early ambulation be insisted on, with the saving of a very large number of mothers. Many other such discoveries have saved countless lives, so remember this if you are ever asked to give permission for an autopsy.
