Articles

Demand Breathes Life into Private Autopsy Companies

: Thursday, 14 October 2010

Wall Street Journal
When family members or crime investigators are unsure how a person died, some turn to small businesses like 1-800-Autopsy Inc. for answers.

Working-Out Stiffs

: Friday, 26 April 1996

Westside Weekly
They're 13 men and women, most of whom work at the West Los Angeles Veteran Affairs Medical Center. They ran and rode bikes together in the Los Angeles Marathon and last weekend's Jimmy Stewart Relays in Griffith Park. They train on Saturday mornings.

Travelling Autopsies Find Growth Market

: Friday, 01 August 1997

Health Care Weekly Review
AS HOSPITALS AND municipalities around the country cut back on the costly service of providing autopsies, family members of the deceased who feel there are unanswered questions that could be resolved by a post-mortem investigation are not without recourse.

To Live And Die In L.A.

: Monday, 01 May 1995

Telegraph Magazine
Delivery culture enters new terrain with 1-800-AUTOPSY, the toll-free number of Vidal Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services. Herrera offers Los Angeles residents a range of services associated with the big sleep, from routine autopsies to a scary-sounding "posttraumatic cleanup."

This Scalpel For Hire

: Friday, 01 April 1994

Maclean's
In the home of drive-by shootings, the sight of a white van with the logo "1-800-AUTOPSY" is hardly comforting. But for Vidal Herrera, it pays to advertise. After 14 years as an autopsy technician and investigator with the Los Angeles County coroner's office, Herrera's career was cut short in 1984 when he injured his back trying to life a body.

They call him "El Muerto"

: Thursday, 24 March 1994

Daily News Daily Life
Think of a place you would never want to be and, chances are, Vidal Herrera has been there, Crime scenes of the Hillside Strangler. Crime scenes of the Nightstalker. More currently, the scene of the multiple shootings in Santa Fe Springs.

The Meticulous Art Of Autopsy

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Prism
In the inconspicuous autopsy area of a Los Angeles hospital, Autopsy Technician Vidal Herrera, pulls open a walk-in refrigerator door and wheels out a stainless steel table with a white body bag heaped onto it.

The Autopsy: Rest in Peace

: Saturday, 01 April 2000

Signs of Civilization
Please don't take this personally, but let's imagine for a moment that you have just died. Perhaps your car ran off a cliff or you were shot in a hunting accident. In any case, the manner of your demise is somewhat suspicious, and foul play can't be ruled out. You are about to join the ranks of an ever smaller, ever more select group -you will be autopsied.

Team Spirit

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

VA Visions
Perhaps one of the best kept secrets at WLA VAMC is our reputation for having one of the cleanest morgues in Los Angeles County.

Stiff Competition

: Monday, 01 May 1995

Telegraph Magazine
Vidal Herrera runs the Grim Reaper a close second when it comes to harvesting the dead. After losing his job at the Los Angeles coroner's office through back injury he started a private autopsy service that has since made him a good living. ED LEIBOWEITZ meets a man with more brains than more.

Stiff Competition

: Wednesday, 26 March 1997

The Outlook
Make no bones about it, the Stiffs take a lot of ribbing. Runners from the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, they all work in some way with the deceased and they know their team name is an irresistible source of gallows humor.

Small business carves up autopsy trade

: Tuesday, 28 October 2008

MSNBC
Except for a small poster of the Grateful Dead rock bank, thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s very little to indicate what happens behind the walled-in industrial compound in East Los Angeles. The only hint a casual observer might have is when a white Hummer pulls in or out of the driveway, the words, Ã¢â‚¬Å"1-800-AUTOPSYÃ¢â‚¬Â in bold black lettering on the side.

Secrets of the Dead Revealed

: Tuesday, 08 May 2007

CBS News
Every day hundreds of people die in Southern California and often they take the secrets of their deaths to the grave. But tonight, we have a rare and exclusive look at how the secrets of the dead are being revealed. We warn you that the images contained in our video report involve a real body and some footage may be considered graphic.

Pizzas, Flowers . . . Autopsies?

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

A 1994 white Chevy Astro minivan may not seem terribly eye-catching, but consider that Herrera's has "1800-AUTOPSY" painted in tall letters on the sides, and a run-down of related corpse services plastered over the rest of it.

People are Dying to Work with Him

: Wednesday, 01 December 1999

Detour
Whether you call him "El Muerto" as his friends and colleagues have endearingly dubbed him, or the traveling autopsy guy, or (death) consultant to the stars - celebrities have been known to call on him for privacy reasons when there is a family death, and production companies hire him as a professional advisor for correct scene-positioning of "dead" bodies-Vidal Herrera will get back to you, day or night.

Pathologists Request Autopsy Revival

: Thursday, 01 June 1995

JAMA
To look at the data, the practice of autopsy is a dying procedure. Thirty years ago around 50% of hospital deaths were autopsied. Since then there has been a steady decline, so that today in teaching hospitals only 10% to 20% of deaths are autopsied.

Opportunity Knocks

: Friday, 01 January 1999

Entrepreneur
And unfortunately so does someone else. While death may seem a bit macabre as a springboard for a business opportunity, approximately 2.3 million Americans died in 1996. With the number of seniors increasing dramatically, we've found mortality seems to be on many franchisors' minds. Autopsy/Post Services Franchise, Inc. performs both forensic autopsies (when the cause of death has legal implications) for a fee, as most hospitals don't offer the procedure routinely. The lesson to be learned? Next time you think a concept can't be franchised, think again.

Only in L.A.

: Thursday, 02 October 2003

LA Times
A growth industry in L.A.: Joel Maliniak tipped us to a traffic sign that's even less cheery than a jammed freeway - a van displaying the phone number (800) AUTOPSY.

News of the Weird

: Tuesday, 01 March 1994

LA Reader
Using a van painted with "1-800-AUTOPSY," Vidal Herrera acts as a free-lance coroner in Los Angeles County, where budget cuts have reduced the size and efficiency of the county coroner's office. He offers services ranging form routine autopsy to the delivery of brains and other body parts to organ banks. Said Herrera, "The death business is . . . recession-proof."

Need an Autopsy? You Might Give Vidal Herrera a Ring

: Tuesday, 01 July 1997

Wall Street Journal
Ten minutes after her mother's death in April, Melody Pulley says, a nurse handed her a white plastic bag filled with her mother's belongings and whisked her from the room. The doctor said Ms. Pulley's 65-year-old mother had died of pneumonia. But Ms. Pulley, a portrait photographer, still had questions she wanted to ask.

Morbid Vanity Generates Thousands of Calls

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Teleservice News
Ten years ago, Vidal Herrera, living on disability after rupturing three discs by hoisting a 5-foot 2-inch, 285-pound dead woman, mailed more than 2,000 resumes but received no job offers.

Member Spotlight: 1-800-AUTOPSY House Calls to the Dead.

: Friday, 01 September 1995

West LA Up 2 Date
We have often heard of house calls made to the living, but never house calls to the dead. How morbid can one get? Perhaps morbid enough to pursue a career as a door-to-door autopsy man who answers to the call of 1-800-AUTOPSY.

McDeath: It Had To Happen

: Friday, 01 April 1994

Worth
Among the Mexican Americans of Los Angeles, Vidal Herrera is known simply as El Muerto. But even Angelenos who don't know his grisly reputation may be familiar with Herrera-he tools around in a van emblazoned with his memorable instate toll-free number: 1-800-AUTOPSY. Does the world really need a coroner who makes house calls? Herrera says it's a growing business: He hopes to open 20 franchises of his Autopsy/Post Services nationwide. His own staff performs about 600 autopsies a year-including about 100 for private citizens, Now A/PS is branching into specialties such as "posttraumatic and decomposition cleanup." that's mopping up mass-murder scenes, to a layman. "It's recession-proof," he says cheerfully.

It's a Living

: Monday, 10 May 1999

Daily Breeze
Usually, Herrera gets a whole body -on a slab. That's because he's a "death specialist," as advertised on the side of his 1994 white Chevy van, which is also emblazoned with his business phone, 1-800-AUTOPSY. In this case, Herrera is going to fingerprint and store the detached digit for a personal injury lawsuit.

It's 1-800-Dial-a-Slab

: Monday, 01 November 1993

New York Newsday
In Los Angeles, proving ground for the drive-in restaurant and the drive-by shooting, Vidal Herrera as 1-800-AUTOPSY van seems an inevitable addition to the landscape.

Hospitals Performing Fewer Autopsies

: Sunday, 30 June 1996

USA Today
The number of autopsies performed in American hospitals has fallen dramatically since the 1960s, raising alarm among doctors who fear the trend threatens the quality of care and the country's store of medical knowledge.

His Business Is Dead

: Sunday, 01 October 2000

LA Times - Valley
Tujunga - When Vidal Herrera steps out of his white van emblazoned with "1-800-Autopsy" on the side, strangers often go up to him and say, "You're weird." Sometimes, when he is eating in a restaurant, supporters will approach him and ask for his autograph.

Harper's Index

: Saturday, 01 August 1998

Harper's
Estimated number of news stories published worldwide this year on India's imminent nuclear-test plans: 500
Number of CIA analysts who predicted the country's nuclear test last May: 0

Handy New Delivery Service

: Wednesday, 01 March 2000

Sky International
America's obsession with to-your-door delivery services has reached new heights. Now in Los Angeles all you have to do is dial 1-800-AUTOPSY and within minutes you get a mobile mortuary at your door. If sudden unexplained deaths are a common occurrence in your life, or you ever feel the need for a quick post-mortem, this is definitely the service for you. Also available are medical photography , DNA paternity tests and the repellent-sounding "tissue procurement". Sounds like the perfect job for your average American serial killer. KW

Giving The Dead A Voice

: Wednesday, 02 April 1997

Westsider
For the past nine years, Vidal Herrera has worked underground performing autopsies on the dead.

From Postmortems Spring a Livelihood

: Friday, 02 May 2008

Los Angeles Times
But death has been a godsend to Herrera, who runs three growing businesses out of a gray, two-story building along a dreary El Sereno strip of auto body shops and small warehouses.

Final Exams

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Daily News
For people in the death business, it's not the celebrity drug overdose or the serial killer slayings that stand out, although there have been plenty of those in Los Angeles County.

Final Cut

: Sunday, 01 November 1998

By Frank C. Girardot
Scalpel in hand, autopsy technician Vidal Herrera makes a Y-shaped incision on the body of an 80-year-old man laid out before him in a Hawthorne, Calif., mortuary.

Family-Requested Autopsies On The Upswing

: Saturday, 01 February 1997

Sun-Sentinel
Dr. Abdullah Fatteh distributes a flyer with that cryptic headline to funeral directors, attorneys and hospital administrators in South Florida, letting them know he is available to do autopsies for famlies seeking answers about a loved one's death.

Family in Turmoil Over Identification of Remains

: Tuesday, 01 June 1999

Chino Hills
Ed and Sheri Denzin learned with a shock on July 4, 1998 that their daughter might not be in her grave. The Denzins requested a second exhumation after learning that cemetery personnel at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier were not sure that their daughters body was returned after it was exhumed the first time for an autopsy by the county coroner's office.

Entrepreneur Offers Private Pay Autopsies

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Ongoing unmet demand for autopsies creates significant business opportunity.

Dial One Yourself

: Friday, 01 January 1999

Economist
Nature abhors a vacuum. So do American entrepreneurs. Consider a firm called Autopsy/Post Services (1-800-AUTOPSY), founded in 1988 by Vidal Herrera. The frequency with which autopsies are performed in America has been falling steadily for over three decades, and Mr. Herrera has made his mark by leaping in to fill the void.

Death Takes A Sideline

: Friday, 01 July 1994

California Lawyer
After the Los Angeles County Coroner's office raised its prices for private autopsies last year, business has been booming for Vidal Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services, the area's only commercial autopsy service. Autopsies conducted at the discretion of the county coroner are free. Most of his customers are attorneys seeking evidence for medical malpractice actions or criminal defense cases.

Death of a Salesman?

: Monday, 01 May 2000

Foothill Leader
La Crescenta man struggles to open autopsy business in Tujunga - Vidal Herrera's empty Foothill Boulevard shop looks like it's starting to come to life - so to speak.

Death is his Fast-Growing Business

: Sunday, 01 August 1999

San Diego Tribune
Mobile L.A. autopsy vendor looks to franchise concept
In the back seat are enough bone saws and industrial steak knives to do three autopsies on the go. At the wheel is the pompadoured, mustachioed Vidal Herrera, bopping and singing along to a 1960s ditty as a skeleton key chain swings from his blue shag dash.

Death Dealers

: Thursday, 13 July 2000

Glasgow Herald
A kind of reader draws our attention to an internet site which extols the virtue of the privatized post-mortem examination industry. The site is run by a company called 1-800-autopsy based in Los Angeles (where else).

Dead? Just Dial 1-800-AUTOPSY!

: Friday, 01 April 1994

Public Eye
When L.A. coroner Vidal Herrera was forced to retire - "I hurt my back lifting a body" - he decided to got into business for himself. Now his mobile Autopsy Serifs "meets all the personal autopsy needs of families, attorneys and hospitals." Since advertising his macabre menu on his van, business since has gone up 50%, he says. Herrera has even been asked about franchising. Now there's a job to die for.

Dead Sure

: Thursday, 02 October 2003

Details
Corpses need cops too. And in California, 1 800 AUTOPSY is the number to dial.

Dead Heats

: Tuesday, 01 October 1996

Playboy
As exciting as the Olympics were, we'd rather watch the Stiffs, a 13-person relay team from the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center. A Group including autopsy technicians, pathologists and brain specimen lab personnel, the Stiffs show up at meets with an ice chest that resembles a coffin, uniforms that bear the number 187 (the state police code for homicide) and a femur instead of a baton. Presumably, they don't want to finish dead last.

Day of the Dead

: Sunday, 19 April 1998

In These Times
The day I met Herrera, he was on his way to a funeral home to perform an autopsy on a 36-year old man who died of AIDS-related complications. The dead man's family had contracted Herrera because they had no insurance and wanted to determine if he'd had emphysema prior to death.

Commercial Autopsy Service Booms

: Friday, 01 July 1994

Funeral Monitor
After the Los Angeles County coroner's office raised its prices for private autopsies last year, business has been booming for Vidal Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services, the area's only commercial autopsy service.

Calling the Cadaver King

: Monday, 08 January 1996

Newsweek
A longtime investigator for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office who assisted in the autopsies of Hillside Strangler victims, Herrera went solo seven years ago and says he's made a much better living in dying his way.

California Thanatologist Expands Autopsy Business Worldwide

: Sunday, 01 February 1998

Death Advisor
When Vidal Herrera began doing autopsies and various other post-mortem services for a couple of funeral homes nine years ago, he didn't realize right away what he'd stumbled upon.

Cadaver King Has Turned Death Into The Good L.A. Life

: Sunday, 16 November 1997

Central Contra Costa Sunday Times
Vidal Herrera's nicknames say it all. Mr. Autopsy, El. Muerto, The Cadaver King. "I want my name to be synonymous with death." Herrera says. And it is.

Business Is Anything But Dead

: Tuesday, 01 December 1998

Hispanic Business
Los Angeles-based Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. (APSI), specializes in forensic and private autopsies, exhumations, and organ retrieval.

Breathing New Life Into Autopsies

: Monday, 09 March 1998

American Medical News
A 40-year old Tampa, Fla., attorney tells his secretary he has chest pain and asks for an aspirin. Moments later, he dies in the bathroom of his office. The man's life insurance deems the death the result of natural causes, probably an aneurysm. A 40-year old Tampa, Fla., attorney tells his secretary he has chest pain and asks for an aspirin. Moments later, he dies in the bathroom of his office. The man's life insurance deems the death the result of natural causes, probably an aneurysm.

Body Work (800) AUTOPSY

: Sunday, 01 November 1998

Maxim
According to the police report, Gramdma stumbled off the roof and landed on the 26 bullets. You're not so sure. Now, with a call to 1-800-AUTOPSY, you can find out the truth. Autopsy/Post Services, Inc., founded in 1989 by Vidal Herrera, offers private "post-mortem" services such as autopsies and blood and tissue procurement for DNA tests. The company located in the Los Angeles area, but more than 10 percent of the firm's autopsies are done on bodies from out of state, and Herrera, according to a New York Times interview, is considering offering franchises all over. (He foresees a promising market in crime-ridden Russia) Just think, that O.J. mess could have been cleared up with one phone call.

Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. Debuts The Only National Autopsy Business Offering A Wide Range Of Services

: Tuesday, 01 April 1997

YB News
LOS ANGELES, CA - Selecting the right professional to provide for your client's needs is imperative. Vidal Herrera believes his company, Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. (APSI) is that firm.

Autopsy/Post Services - A Sure Thing!

: Friday, 01 September 1995

Stakeholder
If death and taxes are the only certainties in life, Vidal Herrera has one of the few businesses with a guaranteed, eternal customer base.

Autopsy Technician Turns Adversity and an 800 Number Into Success

: Monday, 20 April 1998

New York Times
Mr. Herrera is the founder and owner of Autopsy/Post Services, a company that performs autopsies and other postmortem tasks for private citizens searching for peace of mind or grounds for a lawsuit after a loved one has died.

Autopsy Specialist Takes His Services on the Road

: Tuesday, 01 June 1999

The Star
DEATH TOLL: Postmortem freelancer sees rising population as business juncture.
Vidal Herrera's van says a lot about the man.

Autopsy Services Will Help Families

: Saturday, 01 March 1997

Funeral and Cemetery Today
Autopsy Post Services, Inc., was developed in 1986 by Vidal Herrera, a former Los Angeles county Medical Examiner Coroner Investigator. APSI has cultivated a distinguished reputation with the mortuary, hospital, and legal circles by providing a much needed service to families in their time of need.

Autopsy on Wheels

: Friday, 03 April 1998

Daily News
Like any other Southern California businessman, Vidal Herrera navigates the region's overlapping freeways every day to visit his customers. But there is a major difference: His clients are dead.

Autopsy On Wheels

: Tuesday, 28 April 1998

National Examiner
Business is anything but dead for Vidal Herrera. In fact, it's on a roll! Herrera rides around La Crescenta, CA, performing autopsies out of a fully equipped van. And he isn't shy about getting in your face with advertising.

Autopsy King

: Wednesday, 01 July 1998

Hispanic
He's been nicknamed El Muerto and Cadaver King. Some say he has a job to "die" for. One thing is certain: Vidal Herrera will always be known as the Latino who paved the way for others in the independent autopsy business.

Autopsy Firm Turns Death Into Business

: Saturday, 01 November 1997

New Mexican
Vidal Herrera's nicknames say it all. Mr. Autopsy. El Muerto. The Cadaver King. "I want my name to be synonymous with death," Herrera says. And it is.

Autopsies-To-Go

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

El Sereno Star
For Vidal Herrera, of El Sereno, an on-the-job injury may have been the best thing that ever happened to him, though he didn't realize it at the time.

Autopsies Key Pieces To Puzzle

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Pasadena Star News
Though the dead may tell no tales, coroner's investigators were able to tell much from the bodies of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman in the early hours of June 13.

Autopsies For Sale

: Saturday, 01 February 1997

Consumers Digest
A death in the family may leave questions behind regarding the exact cause of death, liability disputes, whether a genetic defect existed that might affect other family members in the future or whether a dementia was Alzheimer's disease.

Autopsies for All Occasions

: Sunday, 08 March 1998

Los Angeles Business Journal
Everything the company does, including post diagnosis for deceased Alzheimer's and AIDS victims, medical photography and videotaping, crime scene mop-ups and other services, is performed at hospitals, mortuaries or crime scenes.

Autopsies Are Easy, Red Tape is Hard

: Sunday, 03 July 1994

LA Times
At least dead men don't give you the runaround. That much Vidal Herrera knows. Herrera, 42, owns an El Sereno company called Autopsy/Post Services, Inc.

A Private Autopsy

: Monday, 21 April 2008

Los Angeles Times
Most pathologists who perform private autopsies eschew publicity and rely on coroner and funeral home referrals for business, but Los Angeles-based 1-800-AUTOPSY has taken a high-profile approach.

A Dying Art

: Monday, 27 May 1996

Daily Breeze
Sometime this summer he will transform his four-year old business into one of the most unique franchise opportunities ever offered - private autopsy services.

800-AUTOPSY

: Sunday, 01 December 1996

Los Angeles Magazine
A cut above. This is the name and number of Vidal Herrera's thriving private autopsy business. A former investigator with the L.A. County coroner's office, Herrera sees a coming "golden era of death for the death-care profession" as aging baby boomers, frustrated by a decline in autopsies ordered by cost-conscious governments and hospitals, pay for the dissection of deceased loved ones. Currently, Herrera and his crew see 900 clients a year, including the occasional celebrity. They also clean up crime scenes when conventional maintenance workers aren't up to the task. "We are the voice of the dead," says Herrera. "An autopsy is like a biography." -J.S.

200 Police Salute A Fallen Comrade

: Wednesday, 26 March 1997

The Outlook
About 200 uniformed police officers marched Tuesday at the funeral of an LAPD officer from the Pacific Division who was denied full honors because he was shot while off duty, after a confrontation with a plainclothes detective.

1997 Marketing Masters Awards

: Sunday, 01 December 1996

Inc. Magazine
Small business is contributing more and more to the American economy. The more than 800,00 new businesses formed in 1996 generated wealth, created jobs and brought new value-added products and services to customers.

1-800-AUTOPSY Provides Unique Services for Families

: Wednesday, 01 December 1999

Arizona Society of Pathologists
It is my privilege to address the members of the Arizona Society of Pathologists. I will share with you my thoughts and give you a board overview of my company including how it began and it's functionality.

1-800-AUTOPSY

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Franchise Times
Vidal Herrera's portable autopsy business in Southern California is so successful he has plans to franchise it. Mr. Herrera's company (1-800-AUTOPSY) does it less expensively than local medical examiners. He hopes to sell 72 autopsy franchises in the United States and 16 abroad. He says there are 2,300 applicants. "Because of the baby boomers, there's going to be a large number of deaths," he said. "People know the need is there."

1-800-AUTOPSY

: Thursday, 01 February 1996

Glendale News-Press
He's got brains and eyeballs in the back of his van, but Vidal Herrera says he just wants to be another guy in the neighborhood.

REVIVING POSTMORTEMS

: Sunday, 01 January 1995

Physician's Weekly
Herrera, a one-time technician at the L.A. County coroner's office, has parlayed a clever phone number and a clear need into a thriving trade in private autopsies for families, hospitals, and lawyers. Called Autopsy/Post Services, it uses nine pathologists who do some 900 postmortems a year. DNA testing is extra.

A Rigorous Professional Takes to the Road

: Sunday, 01 August 1993

Westways

Many motorists are doing double (and triple) takes when they find themselves sharing the freeway with one of three white vans emblazoned with a memorable phone number: 1-800-AUTOPSY.