There are lots of benefits to having an autopsy. For families, it can help assure them that their loved one received proper medical treatment, and it may uncover genetic or environmental causes of disease that could affect other family members. For the medical community, autopsies can confirm the correctness of the diagnosis and the appropriateness of the medical treatment. Autopsies are also used to educate doctors, nurses, residents, and students. For society as a whole, autopsies help assess new treatments, evaluate new diagnostic tests, investigate environmental and occupational diseases, and establish valid mortality statistics. New diseases continue to appear that can only be fully investigated by autopsy.