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. Yes, this sort of business is as morbid as it comes, but as professional as it gets. Vidal Herrera is one of the top autopsy companies in the United States who devotes himself to making house calls to the dead, daily. Herrera performs various types of duties such as, tissue procurements, medical photography, DNA paternity test, post traumatic clean-up, private and forensic autopsy, toxicology & serology analysis and a few other responsibilities.

Herrera was an autopsy technician and investigator with the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office for 20 years. In 1984, while performing his duties, he picked up a body that caused serious injury to his back. As a result, he was disabled for 4 1/2 years. Unable to find steady employment, he started his own business in 1988, using the knowledge he gained from his past career. His persistence in the face of adversities has brought him the high recognition he now enjoys as a prominent businessman of 1-800-AUTOPSY, an autopsy/post service. He employs four full-time people, and performs 500 to 600 autopsies a year, at a average of $2,000 per autopsy. Prospective medical students receive an opportunity to experience autopsy from his perspective. Herrera often donates his time to his Latino community where he is known as El Muerto, "The man of death." While working with the L.A. County, his claim to fame ranged from assisting with the autopsies on the Hillside Strangler and the Skidrow Slasher cases; to finding a fingerprint on a window that helped nab Richard Ramirez, L.A.’s "Nightstalker" serial killer.

In addition to the devoted time he gives his community, the depth of his services comes from attorneys seeking evidence for medical malpractice actions or criminal defense cases. One recognizable service involved Johnny Cochran, a prominent defense attorney in the Rodney King and Michael Jackson cases. 1-800-AUTOPSY is a flourishing business that has increased at least 50% from last year, and a recession-proof business that has placed him in the low six-digit income bracket. With that last statement, there should be NO questions why Vidal Herrera makes house calls to the dead.