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Encyclopedia entry: autopsy
- Article from:
- The Oxford Companion to the Body
- Author:
Copyright© The Oxford Companion to the Body 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information)
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autopsy
In a moment made familiar by television dramas and films, a detective views a dead body, turns to the doctor examining the corpse, and asks for the cause of death. The doctor inevitably remarks, ‘Ah, we'll have to wait for the autopsy to be sure.’ An autopsy is a standardized biomedical procedure during which trained medical pathologists examine the exterior of the body, dissect the corpse, view the vital organs for any obvious abnormality and weigh them, and collect specimens of tissues and fluids for further analysis. The procedure takes 2–4 hours and ends with the body being prepared either for storage until it can be released, or to go to the undertaker for ...