Attitudes of General University Students and Medical College Students Toward Conducting an Autopsy / 대한법의학회지

ABSTRACT

The attitude toward the use of autopsies affects the incidence of performance of the procedure. In foreign countries, many studies on this subjects have been conducted. However, in Korea, no study has been reported. We hypothesized that the general university students may be negative, whereas the medical college students may have positive attitude toward the use of autopsies. In contrary to our hypothesis, there existed only a little difference for the attitude toward conducting an autopsy between the general university students and the medical students. Both groups had positive attitudes toward autopsy. When the medical students become medical doctors, the main reason for not requesting patients to be conducted an autopsy is that their family members may feel offended. These results show that the low incidence of autopsy cases in Korea is caused not by the attitude of the general population, but by the attitude of medical doctors. Thus, we should make every effort to increase the incidence of autopsy by educational programs and discussions about autopsy and death.