Doctors Share Their Biggest Autopsy Discoveries About A Patient's Death

There is little worse for a doctor than losing a patient.
Even if saving them was simply out of their control, a patient dying in their hands will likely weigh on their minds for some time.
It's not much easier for doctors who perform autopsies, as they have to make the less than happy discovery of what caused the death.
More often than not, it turns out to be more or less what they expected.
Though every now and again, they find themselves making a discovery that they never would have guessed in a million years.
A recent Redditor was curious to hear the most shocking discoveries surrounding a patients death doctors made while performing an autopsy, leading them to ask:
"Autopsy doctors of Reddit, what was the biggest revelation you had to a person's death after you carried out the procedure?"
Lucky Cut!
"Worked at an animal hospital."
"They did necropsies for zoos all the time."
"An alligator died, and they shipped it to the hospital, refrigerated etc to stop the decay."
"They took it out and put it up on the table."
"After doing all the paperwork, they started opening up the alligator."
"After the first cut, the alligator opened its eyes."
"Turns out it wasn't dead, the zoo vet mistook an illness for death and the low temperature put it basically into a coma."
"Unfortunately this is all the information I know on this story."
"It's been 7 years since I worked at that place."- BurrShotFirst1804
Literally Stuffed
"I worked at a coroner’s office for a while and once we had a guy who we thought had died from an OD."
"Well we started the autopsy and I went to cut his lungs out and blueberry muffin mix started coming out of them."
"I stuck my finger in his mouth and it was full of blueberry muffin mix."
"And it was in throat."
"Turns out he got just high enough to pass out while eating the muffin mix and he ended up choking to death."- Dink-a-sorous
Karma At It's Most Ironic
"I did the autopsy of both a robber and his victim."
"The robber shot the victim in the back when he tried to escape in a motorcycle, and the robber was shot by the police in the exact same situation."
"What's interesting is that they both died by exactly the same lesion."
"Both of them had their 4th lumbar vertebra shattered and their aorta, main artery of the body, sectioned at the same level."
"I thought of it like an extreme example of instant karma."- quiet-sorrow
It's Easier Than You Think
"As a student in the medical field, I had the opportunity to visit a cadaver lab."
"I was very surprised to see how many people had died from choking."
"Out of the twelve or so cadavers in the lab that day, at least 7 or 8 were from choking."
"I went home and immediately looked up how to perform self Heimlich."- thnx4stalkingme
Not As It Appeared
"During medical school I did a forensic pathology rotation during 4th year."
"Had an autopsy on a woman found in her burned out home."
"She was on home oxygen and the fire started in her bedroom."
"There were also liquor bottles around the home, so they thought was maybe she was drunk, smoking in bed, and caught herself on fire?"
"She was badly charred up on the outside with no real distinguishing characteristics I could see."
"We opened her up and when we got to her lungs they were just the prettiest pink you could imagine."
"Just like in the textbooks."
"This means she wasn't alive to breathe in the smoke and soot from the fire so she had died, spoiler: was murdered, before it was set."
"Ultimately I read in the paper some weeks later it was the boyfriend trying to get insurance money."- MedicalJargon-itis
Surprise Ending
"Training in the Medical Examiners office."
"Elderly woman found dead by herself in her home."
"There was nothing suspicious so I was given the case."
"Took out all the organs, dissected everything, completely unremarkable."
"I cut through the larynx as the last step before I could clean up and finish the case and boom, giant piece of chicken lodged in her windpipe."
"Died choking on dinner."- fangboner
A Closer Look...
"I was an investigator for a state medical examiner for just over 2 years."
"Had a mom that had 'drank herself to death' according to the husband after relapsing on Mother’s Day weekend."
"I just felt like something was off."
"Sent her for an autopsy."
"Had a ruptured liver where dude had essentially beat her till she internally bled to death."
"Later, while out on bail, he stole a semi truck, crashed it in a pond, got out shooting at a deputy, and they killed him."- imahntr
Must Have Been Quite The Movie
"Former homicide detective here."
"Suspicious death, 30-ish male found alone by cleaning staff in the back row of a sparsely attended sci-fi movie."
"Strange scratching wounds around/in mouth."
"Some petechiae in eyes and on cheeks, but no signs of strangulation."
"No obvious signs of chronic illness or disease."
"Presented as healthy, normal adult male."
"Found on his person was a wallet with normal contents, and a single cancelled movie ticket, indicating he went alone."
"Weird, spy movie sh*t going on here."
"Autopsy: a large amount of popcorn compacted in his esophagus."
"Like a half cup."
"Dude was apparently excited by the movie, stuffing popcorn in his mouth, and choked."
"The scratch marks around/in his mouth were self inflicted, trying to dig out popcorn."
"Verified via fingernail scrapings, his was only DNA present."
"Loud movie, he was in the back, no one saw or heard him choke."- sheepwearingajetpack
Autopsies offer closure to friends and families of the deceased.
Even if sometimes, it results in learning information they likely would have rather not known.
Prolonging the unpleasant work of the doctors, when forced to be the bearer of bad news.
We as humans seem to worship at the altars of many.
Religion is religion.
There is a history and a purpose behind it.
Have we gotten out of hand with treating other aspects of life in a Godlike manner?
It's all too serious sometimes.
Redditor KayoshiStoryteller wanted to discuss the things people worship on another level.
So they asked:
"What is not a religion, but people treat it with the same attention?"
The Beyhive. They can be a bit much. But I also see Beyoncé as a religion.
Brands
"Brands in general. People praising Adidas, Apple, Hugo Boss, etc."
Spaceman_Beard
How DARE YOU!!
"Mommy groups. Started getting completely out of hand when my kids were teenagers. I'm a crunchy mom, I'm this kind of mom, or that kind of mom. Those people get rabid. How DARE YOU listen to advice given to you from a doctor about your individual child, MY group thinks 'THIS.' Heresy! Blasphemy! We will CRUCIFY you!"
"They used to helpful, now they are f**king cults."
SubstantialPressure3
Serious Ball
"In India, cricket."
Hyperion_23
"God. The Indian team does idk what, next day everybody in my class (including the f**king teacher) is trashing the team they once cherished."
Super382946
"And Pakistan, my cousins wife threw her phone and nearly smashed it today in the Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan match when a Pakistani guy didn't catch the ball."
Emeralddx
The Fame
"When the English band Take-that split up, the Samaritans help line had such an influx from beyond broken-hearted teenage girls that they required new personnel for how overwhelmed they became. These girls genuinely lived vicariously through, and lived for these celebrities and little else."
Guava_
The Disney cult. It's real.
Fans
"Homoeopathy."
dangerus_dave
"Essential oils too… the young living fans vs the doTerra fans is crazy!!!"
Deadicatedinpa
"My belief in homeopathy is extremely strong because I dilute it to one part in a million."
CHSummers
Convince Me
"Some MLM schemes."
battlelevel
"When I was a cable installer. MLM people were my worst fear way more than religious people. One lady spent the entire 4 hours at her house trying to convince me. After 4 hours I still was not entirely convinced I understood what they sold. I am pretty sure they sold self help books. But the self help books were made solely to help you sell more of the self help books to sell more self help books."
ggoug
What??
"Kpop."
MixWeekly2771
"I had an acquaintance who was hyped for a Kpop concert, totally normal right? But no, she was going off about how this is the perfect outfit to get this guy to fall for her and they'll have a spring wedding unless he prefers autumn in which case she would totally compromise. What??"
"She was 19, doesn't speak any Korean, and doesn't want to live in Korea. She's still young enough for people to find it silly and endearing, somehow. When I was in school, if someone was still going nuts for Beiber(?) or whatever past 16, they def got bullied."
s0ycatpuccino
The Culture
"420 culture (I say this as someone who smokes weed)."
eternalrefuge86
"I own a dispensary, a grow, and a processing lab so cannabis is essentially my life, and even I don't take it as seriously as some people. Some people are waaaay to into the culture like to a weirdly fake point where their whole personality is just I smoke weed look at me."
Cheap_Whereas_4803
"I can't stand people who treat smoking weed as their sole personality trait."
fxckfxckgames
Touchdown
"College football."
ham_wallet998
"Most religions preach some sort of hope. College football rarely gives me any of that."
HooliganBeav
Oh the things we worship.
Sometimes people let their minds run wild when thinking of others.
How do people even conjure such nonsense?
It feels like every person can actually be living in their own personal tabloid.
The things humans will believe.
Redditor redditusernameiforgo wanted to hear all the tea we sip about ourselves.
So they asked:
"What is the weirdest rumour you heard about yourself?"
A lot of my rumors were dull. I'm disappointed. Tell me yours.
Total
"That I had 6 toes. Not on one foot, but in total."
BioluminescentNewt
Bad Kiss
"Somebody spread a rumor that I purposefully gave their cat acid by making out with the cat while I had acid on my tongue. They claim their cat has never been the same. I have never french kissed a cat and I would never risk poisoning an animal."
bfraley9
"I notice you don't deny the acid though."
googlerex
Who?
"That my best friend and I had a threesome with this one dude in high school. Until the day I heard that rumor, I had no idea who that guy was."
julesdarula
"There was a rumor that I had sex with a random guy too! Apparently he was the one who started it. When I heard it, someone had to point him out to me because I’d never seen the kid before in my life… smh."
pahpahlahYou're Alive!
"That I was dead. I got in a bad car wreck in high school and an off duty nurse was first in the scene. She happened to have a white blanket to cover me up with because I was laying on the ground and it was cold. A classmate drove by and saw my car and a body under a white blanket. I missed the next day of school because I was too sore. When I came in the day after that everyone gasped and said they heard I had died in a car wreck."
Gunn_Show
WTF?
"I got Shingles in 7th grade. I was taken out of school on 9/8/2001. Didn't come back for 2 weeks. Apparently, there was a rumor started that I was one of the pilots on 9/11. Kids are wild."
Therew0lf17
People have more imagination than they give themselves credit for.
Was it you?
"There was a rumor In my high school that I slept with all my friend's moms. Had several classmates who I didn't really know come up to me and with grave concern ask if I slept with their mother."
wittymoviereference
I love mom
"I killed my mother. This went around in high school. While I was in high school. Like somehow I was going to be there in class with them if this were remotely true. It kept me from getting bullied though. FYI I called my mom yesterday and sang happy birthday to her, so..."
Last-Place-Trophy
The Twin
"That I was a criminal with a warrant and needed to be in jail. Then the cops showed up because, low and behold, in the paper there was a person who looked f**king exactly like me with a warrant. Got cleared up real fast, but damn if I don't have a near identical twin jacka** out there."
KhaosElement
"My mom had frequent visits from the cops because a local petty criminal had the exact same first middle and last name as her. F**king rough being the good clone."
zairethorn
In French
"In school in Ireland a girl asked her ex about me because we were in the same class and in a bid to put her off he told her that I was French, that I wrote poetry, I payed chess and being half English I ate crumpets all the time."
"She still dated me and it made for very interesting conversation on our first date so it kinda backfired on him. What emo teen wouldn’t want to date a French guy who writes poems??"
Spooky_Cron
For Calamari?
"That I was breeding octopuses for their ink to use in my printer. Spread it myself though as a joke in school, but it caught on and the whole year below me believed it and even asked about it to my friends. Been a while ago but still makes me chuckle."
Theli-Abraxas-Nox
Oh gossip, it keeps fun alive.
What's the weirdest rumor you've ever heard? Let us know in the comments below.
Not everyone can afford an upscale night on the town with a swanky menu.
Sometimes the menu is simple and concise.
And it may need to be repeated 3-4 times a week.
The money and food struggles are real.
But that doesn't mean you can't consume foods that are yummy.
Redditor bADDKarmal wanted to discus the foods that signal some life issues but are still yummy.
So they asked:
"What is the best struggle meal?"
Pea soup. My grandma made it with just water, a bag of peas and some spice. So good.
Basics
"Toast with butter and sugar."
nobid_leon
"My dad would always make toast with butter and brown sugar. Toss it in the oven to get a crisp and it was magical."
11646Moe
Special
"Spam and rice. The poor hawaiian kid special."
Xxaxis366
"I agree with the rice part, but Spam is insanely expensive. It's like $5 a can minimum around here. Not Hawaii."
"A bag of beans that costs $2 or less, some tomatoes and spices. Will last longer, be more filling, and not give you a sodium overload. Honestly, most things go good with rice."
DreamPig666
"Had this for lunch today and threw in a couple of eggs too!!"
MeNicolesta
For food reason...
"Noodles."
hyprsensitive
"I know this is a bit gourmet relative to this, but try the Shin Ramyun brand ramen some time. It is so freaking good, especially the Black one. It's surprisingly close to standard restaurant ramen. About 2 bucks, bigger portion than most ramen. I saw some people doing a huge ramen tournament, and Shin Ramyun won. For food reasons."
appleparkfive
"Yes pretty much any Noodle will do. Straight fire."
bADDKarmal
The Best Basics
"Red beans and rice."
Caseated_Omentum
"I was going to say, as long as you have beans and rice, you can live off of that alone for a very long time or potatoes by themselves has more nutrients than any other 1 food and can keep you alive longer than anything else. Potatoes has kept kingdoms and countries from starvation through times on war, droughts, and high inflation."
RonAnFawn
Good easts...
"The comfort food I had when poor as hell was grilled cheese that you dip in warm tomato soup. Taste like pizza, I still do it from times to times."
MoleHester
Everyone needs comfort and this food.
The Fav
"Frijoles from a pot with fresh Pico and a tortilla is my fave. Or queso fresco, tomato and onion in a tortilla."
UpstairsSize
Oh Shin...
"Ramen, alternating out the seasoning and sauces you use each time."
Nondenomabomination
"Try Shin Ramyun. It's bigger and costs a little bit more. But it blows the others out of the water. Especially the Shin Ramyun Black one. Has some vegetables and mushrooms in it."
"I saw Good Mythical Morning do a ramen tournament and Shin Ramyun won. Wasn't surprised at all. You can find it at any Asian market, but it's pretty common in other stores these days. International section often has it."
"It's pretty similar to the ramen you would order in a little mom and pop restaurant. Put an egg in it if that's your thing, but it's good as is."
appleparkfive
That’s life...
"Soft fried egg added to a tortilla with cheese and salsa, put back into the pan for a minute to get the tortilla crispy."
souvenireclipse
"Nice. I do this too but with beans instead of salsa."
kale_blazer
"I toast my tortilla first using a skillet. Try that. I sometimes add a slice of ham. That’s life. No salsa for me though."
txpharmer13
Use Jiffy
"A couple of cans of tuna (in oil or water, as you like), drained. Prepare a box of macaroni and cheese (the deluxe if you can swing it). Add a little finely chopped onion, half a bag of cooked frozen peas, salt and pepper. Give it a dash or three of celery salt if you have it, really makes the dish. Heat it through, stirring occasionally, serve."
"Hey presto, stove top tuna casserole. Tuna packed in oil will give a better flavor and be more calorie dense. Deluxe mac & cheese has the cheese goop in a pouch instead of the cheese powder. If things are really tight use a couple of boxes of the powder sort."
"Also, beans and cornbread. A bag of pinto beans is cheap, do them in a slow cooker if you have one. Add a little bacon if you have it. Make the cornbread from scratch or use the Jiffy cornbread mix. Yum."
darrellbear
Grounded
"Ground beef, egg noodles, and packet gravy mix. Can feed a family of four."
WhichDuck5191
"Ground beef is not cheap these days though.
"Leather-Highway7374
Now I'm hungry. Who else?
Do you have a favorite struggle meal? Let us know in the comments.
People Explain Which Things Were Meant To Save Lives But Instead Killed A Lot Of People
Have you ever tried helping someone with the intention of de-escalating a distressing situation but wound up making things a lot more complicated instead?
We all have good intentions to assist people in need of aid.
But even those good intentions can fall short of expectations and can make you wonder if it was better to turn a blind eye to the situation in the first place.
Now put any scenario on a much grander scale, even on a global level.
The repercussions of trying to intervene can have fatal and devastating consequences.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Para--Dise asked strangers online:
"What's something that was supposed to save lives but killed many instead?"
Careful what you ingest. These horrific incidents all started out with a plan that looked good on paper.
Not so much in real life.
Toxic Waters
"Charities dug loads of wells across Southeast Asia, mostly in and around Bangladesh, in order to provide people with clean drinking water. However, as the water level in the table dropped, the concentration of arsenic in the water increased."
"This led to the largest mass poisoning in human history. In all, between 33 and 77 MILLION PEOPLE were exposed to dangerous arsenic levels in the water. Today, it's been estimated that as many as 20 million people are still drinking arsenic-contaminated water in Bangladesh."
– Tin_OSpam
Dam
"Same with the efforts to 'control' The Nile to better irrigate crops. Areas that flooded seasonally were stopped from flooding but then more stagnant water came causing more disease bearing mosquitoes. Crops in certain areas grew less as well due to silt being kicked up. This caused more malnourishment which led to more deaths from malaria and other diseases"
– NemoKhongMotAi
Don't Drink The Water
"Remember when people used to think that radium is healthy and even drank radium-infused water for health? DON'T google it."
– skeletonintheattic
Occupational Hazard
"The Radium Girls. They were female factory workers who painted watch dials with radium because it glows in the dark. They were told to lick the ends of their brushes dipped in radium paint because it saved time and were also told the paint was safe so they would paint their lips, teeth, and nails with it and ended up suffering catastrophic health effects. Don’t Google that either."
– Vegetable_Salad86
Here are examples of urban planning gone wrong.
Cramped Quarters
"The projects. Thought of as luxurious, high rise architecture that would make affordable housing closer to where people worked and help put an end to ghettos."
"Didn’t work out that way, claustrophobic, terrifying towers where you had to know who controlled which stairwell."
– ThinkIGotHacked
Complicated High-Rise
"heard this from a police officer:"
"the projects in my city were all intended to be high-rise, but eventually it started working against law enforcement. criminals would take over the highest floors, so when police rolled in to do raids they were spotted from farther away. as the projects got older and switched owners, they tore them down and built town houses in their place. lower to the ground to take away the criminal advantage..."
– StockingCapStu
Asbestos
"Its such a good mineral unfortunately. It’s a great insulator, very heat resistant, fairly cheap. It was put into almost everything too."
"The amount of buildings in my city that were either abandoned or getting old they just ended up tearing down because the asbestos contamination was so bad it wasn’t worth saving is sad. We’ve lost a lot of landmarks in the last 5-10 years because of damn asbestos."
– CatsInSpaceSwag
It's not surprising the pharmaceutical industry gets scrutinized.
Dopesick
"OxyContin: It was definitely a money grab by the Sacklers but the scientist that created it and the people selling it to doctors in the beginning genuinely believed that they were giving people bedridden by pain a new chance at life. That was the biggest problem. The sales reps were brain washed into being die-hard believers and would go to any lengths to sell the drug. Many doctor's became die-hards too because of the promise that 'less than one percent become addicted.'"
"They went from under-prescribing pain meds to handing them out like candy. Sure, they eventually took bribes when it turned out the stuff was addictive; but they originally believed they were helping their patients and had no idea the fire they were playing with."
"Edit: Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize if I triggered anyone. I see that this was a harder topic for many of you than it was for me. My family's struggle has been with alcohol and mental illness. Most of what I know about this subject was in news articles published to argue against the deal the Sacklers and Purdue was receiving. I'm sorry that I approached it too lightly. Thank you to those that voiced memories. To many of you: may your friends and family rest in peace and I'm glad you remember them. To many others: stay strong because you are worth it."
– thenightscaresme
History Of Heroin
"Heroic strong a.k.a 'Heroin'. The initial plan was to provide it as a medicine/ prescribed drug which soon turned into an additive substance. It is now a Schedule I substance, which makes it illegal for non-medical use. Needless to say it has killed many!"
– JamesA58
Intended Purpose
"Actually it was specifically supposed to be a safe alternative to highly addictive morphine! So... big failure in other words."
– redkat85
Others Substances
"Lithium as a table salt...although it is a salt, too much is toxic! Great for managing mood disorders, though, as long as it is monitored and you don't stay on it too long....too long on it and it is harmful to the kidneys/liver!"
– JohnArkady
Behavior Of Mirror Molecules
"Iirc it was also the drug that taught us that mirror molecules act very differently. Before that, scientists thought the same composition meant same outcome. With Thalidomide, the mirror is a sedative and has no teratogenic effects. It’s unfortunately impossible to produce one or the other singularly, so there is no safe Thalidomide when administered to pregnant women."
– newhappyrainbow
The intentions in some of these examples are questionable. Were big companies actually keeping the public's best interests in mind, or were their proposals a guise for their self-serving needs?
The answer might be easier to determine for some of the circumstances, but others seem to be more complicated.
But at the end of the day, are companies really that nefarious enough to intentionally disregard the lives of others to advance their own selfish causes?
It's an ongoing discussion. What are your thoughts?