On 14/03/14 07:50, Jim Hawkins wrote:

Not by doctors.

Is it not still the case that around 40% of all medical diagnoses are
found to be wrong in autopsies?

Ian

On Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:08:52 +0000, The Real Doctor
wrote:

On 14/03/14 07:50, Jim Hawkins wrote:

Not by doctors.

Is it not still the case that around 40% of all medical diagnoses are
found to be wrong in autopsies?

Some of it appears to be what is meant by "wrong". Someone carrying
out an autopsy has the advantage of being able to have a good poke
around and get things tested while e.g. a GP is limited to what can be
detected from outside by mostly non-destructive means. While this can
often find something undiagnosed or missed/ignored (and not
necessarily relevant for consideration) it won't always change the
substantive cause of death.

A Grauniad article from 2012 :-
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...-four-patients
refers to a study in England and Wales finding that "In 40% of the
cases where there were mistakes" (possibly tracing back to the same
source as yours) but some were "Chicken and Egg" cases as with the
pneumonia v. lung cancer example in the article and others concerned
whether or not certain diagnoses which were correct should also have
been reported to a Coroner.