-
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.
By Vidal Herrera, Founder, 1-800-AUTOPSY. 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.
The business began as a one-man (diener-autopsy technician) operation in late 1988. It came about from sheer desperation mixed with luck, and has enjoyed significant success and steady growth due to market demand for the unique specialty services we provide.
I was formerly employed as a Field Deputy Coroner-Investigator for the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Coroner in California, Nursing Attendant, X-Ray Dark Room Attendant, Central Service Technician, Emergency Room Admitting Clerk/Interpreter, Mortuary Attendant, Forensic Autopsy Technician, Forensic Medical Photographer and eventually investigations.
In August of 1984, after sustaining a career-ending lower back injury while lifting a corpse on the job. Major back surgery ensued, compelling me into retirement, where I remained in rehabilitative care confined part-time to a wheel-chair for approximately four years. I surprised doctors by leaving my wheelchair behind and now use only a cane for occasional support . . . but my new disability prevented me from finding any employment, despite having submitted over 2,000 job applications in California and six neighboring states.
In late 1988 an acquaintance from the Medical Examiner's office referred me to the Veteran's Administration West Los Angeles Medical Center who were in need of a skilled and experienced autopsy technician. That first referral led to countless others. While utilizing my prior work experience, knowledge of the medical/legal/forensic and hospital environments along with my technical skills enabled me to make an independent living one job at a time. I came to see the public's need unmet by the medical community - for the kinds of services I could provide. I founded Autopsy/Post Services Inc. later that same year.
With the business named, I immediately obtained the "vanity" telephone number "1-800-AUTOPSY" and later secured the same as an Internet domain name for my eventual World Wide Website: "www.1800autopsy.com" Over a period of time, the range of inter-related services developed. 1-800-AUTOPSY now provides, based on our mission and status as a totally autonomous and mobile-based Thanatology ( the medical-legal study of death and conditions affecting dead bodies) specialty company.
The services include:
Forensic autopsies
Private autopsies
Partial, limited & re-autopsies
Toxicology & serology analysis
Exhumation/disinterment autopsies
Med. Mal. Prac. & Wrongful Death Specialist
Tissue & organ procurement / retrieval
Post-mortem neurological diagnosis (e.g. Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's (ALS) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis disease, Down Syndrome, Tourette's disease, Schizophrenia, (AIDS) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, etc.)
Post-mortem HIV & AIDS diagnosis
Post-mortem genetic DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) banking
Post-mortem Asbestos procurement/analysis
Post-mortem DNA (Paternity) analysis
Post-mortem radiation detection
Hospital autopsy support (diener) services
Contract autopsy services available
Medical photography services
Medical appliance recycling (e.g. eyeglasses, hearing aids, pacemakers, wheelchairs, prosthesis, etc.)
Autopsy report and medical records review
Off-site laboratory-morgue facility available
Post-traumatic (Decomposition) clean-up services
These services are offered, as necessary, to families (next-of-kin), Funeral directors, Cremationists, hospitals, attorneys, transplant institutions, cadaver-tissue research investigators, and other related organizations. We carry out these services in hospitals and funeral homes in an ancillary capacity (not in peoples homes, or in my vehicle, as reported by the media) in strictest adherence to decorum, privacy and correct medical procedures and conditions.
The business is mobile-based to provide appropriate procurement and transport/delivery services for tissue and organ case/specimens, and to facilitate client response and prompt management of procedures. The 1-800-AUTOPSY van is fully equipped with mobile telecommunications equipment, including paging/voicemail, mobile fax, phone and portable computer & printer, surgical instruments & attire, storage/packaging containers and photography equipment.
Death's inevitability and the generally "fearsome and negative" connotation around it do provide a challenge to the public's awareness of the unique services we provide. However, once people learn not only about the value of what we do but also about the highest standards of ethical conduct with which we carry out our responsibilities, acceptance is very high.
We believe, and state in our motto, "mortuis praesdium et vocem dare necessee est." the deceased must be protected and given a voice. By seeking the truth through medical investigation, we fulfill that goal by allowing otherwise hidden information to come to light. The ability to uncover such information through autopsy procedures should be available to all that need it; there are no ethnic, financial, religious or cultural barriers in death.
A significant part of 1-800-AUTOPSY's mission is to broaden society's perspective about the "positive side of death" with respect to transplantable tissue, cadaver-tissue research, and whole body donations. With radical innovations emerging in new less invasive delicate surgical procedures, rigorous testing techniques in research there is a critical shortage and constant demand for fresh cadavers, which lowers the availability to medical schools. We will also be involved, through our network of franchises, with the non-profit organizations that recycle and redistribute medical appliances that are donated to and given to developing countries. In working to accomplish these advocacy efforts, we enjoy significant assistance and support from funeral directors and cremationists who society, unfortunately, has a negative view as depicted in the media who tend to question, confuse and distort their true value. This alliance may eventually aid the public in understanding their "true role", integrity and service to the community.
Autopsies are time-consuming, costly and becoming "problematic for hospitals". The current climate in Corporate America (medical), specifically the HMOs, with continual consolidations, down-sizing and prudent cost cutting measures, has affected routine hospital autopsy rates in our country.
Autopsies have decreased dramatically from 50% of all deaths prior to 1970 to below 5%, the current national average. Hospitals have quite literally released their fiduciary duties and/or abdicated their responsibilities. Consequently , many pathologists, who by definition are 'the conscience of medicine' have called for a reversal of this trend, but it is not clear whether their voices will be heard.
Sadly, the deceased are merely dismissed as just a statistical denominator with no apparent value to corporate's "bottom line" of profit. Given that some 10.5 % of the approximately 2.4 million deaths per year in this country result from medical malpractice, and some 44.9% of all deaths are misdiagnosed. These numbers are to compelling to ignore.
"One of the ways in which historians measure civilization is by the way society treats their dead." With less staffing and increased budgetary constrictions local municipalities, specifically Medical Examiners-Coroners, offices are performing fewer autopsies. For those who wish to obtain an autopsy, the path is not always an easy one. Services like mine are essentially unknown outside of our service area in Southern California, and as a result, whenever we receive media coverage, requests have come to us not only from other parts of the nation but internationally as well.
To better meet the needs of the public, we plan to establish franchised 1-800-AUTOPSY locations in specific major cities throughout the United States, followed by 16 additional sites in various countries of the world over the next several years. Though it may sound callous, death truly is 'recession-resistant', and the need for our unique services will only increase over the next millennium.
With a very visible and recognizable company name followed by our 1-800 AUTOPSY telephone number and website address www.1800autopsy.com. 'We have gone where the competition wasn't'.
