Small business carves up autopsy trade

Tuesday, 28 October 2008

MSNBC
Except for a small poster of the Grateful Dead rock bank, there’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, â€Å"1-800-AUTOPSY” in bold black lettering on the side.

Except for a small poster of the Grateful Dead rock bank, there’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, â€Å"1-800-AUTOPSY” in bold black lettering on the side.

â€Å"They say dead men tell no tales, but I disagree,” says Herrera, a veteran autopsy technician.

And he should know. Herrera and his wife, the owners and creators of 1-800-AUTOPSY, business that provides private post-mortem examinations, hear tales from the dead-every-day – tales of drug abuse, poisonings, violence and medical malpractice.

â€Å"If you don’t die peacefully, you die unexpectedly – you’re shot or you’re stabbed or overmedicated” says Herrera â€Å"Who’s going to talk for you? Families can’t do it. Only a doctor and the autopsy technician can do it for you That’s it.”

Herrera’s business is one that might give many the chills, but he insists it’s a business with a red-hot future.

Autopsies used to be a normal procedure for deaths in U.S. hospitals, mainly to understand fully the cause of patients’ deaths. But the growth of managed health care plans has brought cutbacks, and these days only 2 to 5 percent of deaths are autopsied in hospitals, compared with 50 percent of deaths in the 1970s. But demand remains constant, Herrera notes: Family members still want to know why their loved ones died.

â€Å"Death is, in fact, a recession-proof-business – it just never stops,” said Herrera. The U.S. death rate is currently 2.4 million people a year, and it’s projected to increase to 4 million baby boom generation starts to die off, he added.

The business of performing private autopsies is unregulated and largely made up of independent entrepreneurs like Herrera, and so hard facts about its size and revenue are hard to come by. From Herrera’s point of view, it’s looking like a growth industry. He now operates three franchises for his autopsy business in Florida, No. California and Nevada. Several more franchises are under discussion, he said.

Herrera says he never intended to become a business owner. He learned the trade 35 years ago when he apprenticed at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office.

In 1984, after 14 years of employment, he suffered a disabling back injury while conducting a suicide investigation, rupturing three discs in his back. He underwent major surgery, and within 30 days he was jobless. Over the next four years he accumulated over 2,000 job rejection letter. The future looked bleak.

Then, in 1988, Herrera was finally offered a job by the Veteran’s Administration in Los Angeles teaching doctors how to do autopsies. He rejected the offer because the pay was too low, but turning down the opportunity unexpectedly opened the door to another. One of the doctors who offered him the job suggested he become a subcontractor, and his small business eventually grew into a larger business, driven by word of mouth and referrals from the funeral industry, the medical community and the legal circle.