Autopsy interrogation of emergency medicine dispute cases: how often are clinical diagnoses incorrect?
Autopsies are an underutilized tool for identifying diagnostic errors. Researchers evaluated 117 autopsies for patients in Shanghai whose cause of death was disputed or required third-party investigation. Diagnostic errors that would have altered treatment or survival were found in nearly 61%. This number is higher than estimates from a previous systematic review, likely because all patients in this sample had a disputed cause of death.