Caveat prosector: the pathologist and autopsy law.
For more than five centuries autopsies have contributed to the improvement of health care. To support this purpose, society has modified the laws governing the dead body. While the police power of the state authorizes some autopsies, most are performed in hospitals and are governed by the common law as locally modified. The use of living tissues and organs from dead bodies has led to efforts not only to redefine death, but also to regulate tissue banking, transplantation, and experimentation. These legal and social constraints must be recognized and respected by the autopsy pathologist.
D001344:Autopsy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002102:Cadaver; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D010336:Pathology; D014180:Transplantation; D014481:United States