 Gerard van Swieten , whom Maria Theresa had recruited following the death of her sister , Archduchess Maria Anna , founded the Vienna General Hospital , revamped Austria 's educational system and served as the Empress 's personal physician . After calling in van Swieten , Maria Theresa asked him to study the problem of infant mortality in Austria . Following his recommendation , she made a decree that autopsies would be mandatory for all hospital deaths in the city of Graz , Austria 's second largest city . This law – still in effect today – combined with the relatively stable population of Graz , resulted in one of the most important and complete autopsy records in the world . Maria Theresa banned the creation of new burial grounds without prior government permission , thus countering wasteful and unhygienic burial customs . Her decision to have her children inoculated after the smallpox epidemic of 1767 was responsible for changing Austrian physicians ' negative view of inoculation . The empress herself inaugurated inoculation in Austria by hosting a dinner for the first sixty @-@ five inoculated children in Schönbrunn Palace , waiting on the children herself . 
