POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 August 1928, Page 11

POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS

COMPULSION ADVOCATED HAMILTON, August 9. A plea that post-mortem examinations should be compulsory in all cases was made by Dr. G. W. Gower, surgeon superintendent of the Waikato Hospital, in a lecture here last night. He opened his remarks by referring to the difficulty of diagnosing cancer. “When a patient dies of supposed cancer and this has not been verified by an operation, a microscopical examination should be made. This, in the interests of the living, in my opinion, should be compulsory. In fact I would go farther and say that a 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 diagnoses of treatment of others.”

Speaking from memory, Dr. Gbwer said he believed post-mortem examinations were already made in all cases in Austria, and in yome American hospitals relatives were induced to agree. In the 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-mortem examinations, and doctors would prefer to know the truth even if they were shown to be wrong.