DDPHE Blog: Respecting Faith and Science During Autopsies

DDPHE Blog: Respecting Faith and Science During Autopsies

Published on November 15, 2024

Denver's Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) is in the business of providing answers to families when loved ones die in suspicious, sudden, or unexplained ways. To uncover these answers, OME's pathologists generally conduct an autopsy. So, what happens when faith comes into conflict with this crucial role of medical examinations that not only determine cause of death, but improve public health and ensure justice in legal cases?

Many religious and cultural communities object to dissecting the body after death. For some, autopsies are in conflict with hundreds - even thousands of years - of traditions, beliefs and practices, because they are seen to desecrate the body or could delay burial.

Dr. Sterling McLaren, OME forensic pathologist and Denver's Chief Medical Officer, says the office is sensitive toward the concerns of faith-based communities. In specific cases, if doctors can determine cause of death without performing a full autopsy, they will do their best to accommodate. This is particularly true for a death that appears to be from natural causes, without concerns for foul play or drug overdose.

The use of a Lodox imaging machine at OME is one method that can help doctors avoid an autopsy. This machine captures high-quality, full-body X-rays. The resulting images can show trauma, like broken bones, and foreign objects in the body, like bullets, which can give doctors information on whether an autopsy is necessary.

Sometimes though, X-rays are not enough and an autopsy is necessary. In the case of bullets in a body, X-rays can't show a specific injury, which could be important if there is a court case and an OME doctor must testify in criminal court.

Other factors that may play a role in a doctor's decision to decline an autopsy is if cause of death can be determined from a person's medical records. A patient with a long history of hypertension can lead to hypertensive cardiovascular disease or coronary heart disease as a cause of death. However, there are exceptions. For example, someone could have a heart attack, then crash into a tree. Without an autopsy, cause of death would appear as blunt force injuries instead of heart disease, and manner of death listed as an accident instead of as a natural cause.

OME regularly hosts religious leaders to educate staff on how to work with these sensitive cases. Religious leaders explain their beliefs when it comes to autopsy, the importance of treating the body with respect, minimizing intrusion of the body, and doing their investigation quickly so bodies can be quickly returned to loved ones.

The doctors at OME strongly consider religious objections to autopsy, including adjusting procedures to be as minimally invasive as possible, such as dissecting only relevant body parts and returning as much of the body as possible. But when it is impossible to conclude on cause and manner of death to fulfill legal obligations, an autopsy is necessary, OME finds families of decedents generally understand it could impact future legal proceedings and acquiesce to the medical science necessary to bring closure to their loved one's case.

Learn more about the important work at OME.

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