Autopsy: A postmortem examination. Autopsies have been conducted for over 2,000 years, though they were infrequently performed, mostly for legal reasons. One of the earliest recorded autopsies was carried out by the Roman physician Antistius, who, in 44 B.C., examined Julius Caesar and found 23 injuries, including a fatal chest wound. In 1410, the Catholic Church commissioned an autopsy on Pope Alexander V to investigate whether he was poisoned by his successor, but no evidence of poisoning was discovered. By the early 1900s, notable physicians like Rudolf Virchow in Berlin, Karl Rokitansky in Vienna, and William Osler in Baltimore gained widespread support for autopsies, advocating their use as a means of discovery to identify causes of death, inform treatment, and confirm medical findings. They demonstrated that autopsies could prevent mistakes and verify diagnoses. In the early 20th century, the reasons behind most deaths were unknown, and autopsies provided families with clear explanations for their loved one's passing. By the conclusion of the Second World War, autopsies had become a standard procedure in North America and Europe.
