A mandatory autopsy bill has not been passed into law in spite of the fact that as far back as 1999, many mandatory autopsy bills have been filed, which ended up languishing in committees and never got discussed and voted on by the House of Representatives and Senate.

Now, similar bills have been filed in the 20th Congress, which may end up being consigned to the dustbin of history, again. Senator Francis Pangilinan has refiled his version of the bill (Senate Bill 724) on July 21, 2025. Similarly, in the House of Representatives, House Bill No. 76 was filed by Rep. Bernadette Barbers seeking the same. Here’s hoping Congress will get around to discussing the bill in the plenary session to pass it. Finally, there must be a reconciliation of both bills for it to be passed and sent to Malacanang for signing into law.

Why is it important? Autopsies generate real scientific evidence that can be used to identify the identity of deceased persons and causes of deaths, place suspects at the scene of the crime and provide evidence in court.

In many cases of violent or suspected unnatural deaths, no autopsy is carried out to determine the exact cause of death. Without factual evidence, most cases of foul play rely mostly on circumstantial evidence and eyewitness accounts which may be erroneous. It means there will be no justice for the victims, since there is no factual evidence to use in finding suspects and to link them to the crime.

In instances where persons are brought dead on arrival (DOA) to the hospital without prior history of illness/ disease, doctors cannot fill out the death certificate factually. Thus, without an autopsy, they may be guessing the cause of death when in fact, there may have been foul play.

House Bill No. 76 states that the autopsy shall be performed by any of the following: Government health officers, medical officers of law enforcement agencies and members of the medical staff of accredited hospitals. This poses a problem, as these doctors may not have the training to properly perform autopsies. An autopsy needs to be done by a properly trained pathologist to be credible and evidence presented in court must be backed up by the credentials of the person performing the autopsy.

As it is, there are only two trained forensic pathologists in the Philippines, namely Drs. Raquel Fortun and Maria Cecilia Lim. However, there will soon be training available for forensic sciences in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine where both forensic pathologists are faculty members of (Forensics in the Spotlight Again, July 15, 2025).

For cases that are DOA, there are board certified Anatomic Pathologists in most hospitals who can perform autopsies as this was part of their training. Speaking of training, many pathology training programs are lacking autopsy cases and these programs can benefit from the rise in the number of autopsies in case the bill is passed into law. Pathology residents in training are required to do at least five autopsies before they can take the certifying examinations to become full-fledged pathologists.

For the public whose view of autopsies is limited to gory images of disemboweled bodies and bloody organs, it must be emphasized that even in cases of natural death, the exact cause of death my not be known by the doctors caring for the patient, despite all the advances in medicine such as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging and more.

Studies have shown that up to to 25 percent of clinical diagnoses (major or minor) are wrong even with these advanced techniques, and only an autopsy can reveal the true nature of a person’s disease and cause of the death in certain cases. Sometimes, a co-existing condition may have been undetected. Thus, the autopsy plays a major role of detecting medical errors that can be corrected for the sake of future patients. This does not mean there was malpractice. It simply means there are limits to what medical science can do.

It is also important to note that none of the major religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism) have proscriptions on the performance of the autopsy. Many believe it is a desecration of a person’s body if an autopsy is performed. Nothing is further than the truth as the external appearance of the body is preserved and an autopsied body is perfectly fit for viewing with the benefit that the family knows for sure why their loved one died, thus bringing a sense of closure.

We need to ensure that the next generation of pathologists can properly perform autopsies for the sake of auditing the practice of medicine. Pathology is often spoken of as the conscience of medicine. We all need a conscience. Please pass the Mandatory Autopsy Bill into Law.