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Post-mortem examination or Autopsy Report
A detailed autopsy report contains details of the autopsy procedure, microscopic findings, and a list of medical diagnoses and a summary of the case.
Pathological findings are correlated with clinical findings (the physician’s findings, laboratory values, radiology findings etc). The report has three parts:
- Preamble-details about the ordering authority, time of arrival of the body at the mortuary etc
- Body of the report (description of the external and internal examination)
- Conclusions- Cause of death based on the post-mortem findings
References:
- The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. Dr. K. S. Narayan Reddy
Did you know that Legionnaire's disease was discovered as a result of autopsy. In 1976 34 of the 221 delegates died when they attended an American Legion conference in Philadelphia. Food poisoning was ruled out and after this it became apparent that they had inhaled a bacterium Legionella on autopsies.