Connected to the cloud at time of death: a case report

Connected to the cloud at time of death: a case report
Journal of Medical Case Reports; by Isabel Straw, Claire Kirkby, Preethi Gopinath; 8/24
Our case report provides the first clinical evaluation of autopsy practices for a patient death that occurs on the cloud. We question how autopsy practices may require adaptation for a death that presents via the 'Internet of Things', examining how existing guidelines capture data related to death which is no longer confined to the patient's body... Through this patient case we explore novel challenges associated with digital deaths including; (1) device hardware issues (difficult extraction processes, impact of pathological tissue changes), (2) software and data limitations (impact of negative body temperatures and mortuary radio-imaging on devices, lack of retrospective cloud data analysis), (3) guideline limitations (missing digital components in autopsy instruction and death certification), and (4) changes to clinical management (emotional impact of communicating deaths occurring over the internet to members of family).
Publisher's note: An interesting article posing interesting questions about the impact technology has on death and the potential use / misuse of health information gathered by devices.