-
2017 BCE
1st autopsies
In ancient Babylon, as early as 3500 BC, autopsies on animals were performed not for the study of disease, but rather for the practice of predicting the future by communicating with divine forces -
2017 BCE
Galen Dissections
Galen (131-200 A.D.), a disciple of Hippocrates practicing in ancient Greece, performed surgical dismantling (dissection) of animals and humans -
May 8, 1200
Legal
In the late 1200s the law faculty dominated the University of Bologna and would order autopsies to be performed to help solve legal problems -
May 8, 1300
Criminal
Before such edicts from religious leaders, it was considered a crime to dissect the human body and criminal prosecutions for "body snatching" by students of anatomy date back to the early 1300s. -
May 8, 1500
Accepted
By the 1500s, the autopsy was generally accepted by the Catholic Church, marking the way for an accepted systematic approach for the study of human pathology. -
1st Great Autopsist
Giovanni Bathista Morgagni (1682-1771) who has been considered the first great autopsist. -
Teaching
Osler not only performed autopsies himself and taught others from autopsies, but also left detailed instructions for his own autopsy. -
Flexner
In 1910, Abraham Flexner reported the sorry state of medical education in the U. S. at that time. -
Cabot Report
The Cabot report issued from the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1920, based on approximately 3000 autopsies performed, revealed astonishing diagnostic inaccuracies on the part of clinicians. -
Present
Government agencies that regulate the accreditation of hospitals and nursing homes are deeply concerned about the decline in autopsy rates