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I think the series "Autopsy and Medicine" is an excellent idea. The majority of journals emphasize either basic science or diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Pathophysiologic factors are often omitted, and yet they are the foundation for diagnosis and treatment. Diseases are often viewed as patient complaints, images on radiographs, abnormal laboratory values, and findings on a typed report, not as functional or physical changes in organs. I was very fortunate because I had the opportunity to work with a pathologist during my residency. We reviewed about 120 autopsies during a 3-year period. The experience significantly changed my approach to learning and improved my ability to understand what was happening in an ill patient. For example, I remember seeing a transmural myocardial infarction with a papillary muscle rupture that was the cause of death in my patient as well as I remember seeing a cholecystectomy for impacted gallstones during my . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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