Business Is Anything But Dead

Death never takes a vacation, which means that Vidal Herrera has a constant source of income. His company, Los Angeles-based Autopsy/Post Services, Inc. (APSI), specializes in forensic and private autopsies, exhumations, and organ retrieval. Mr. Herrera, a former deputy coroner for Los Angeles County, has found a customer based among the hospitals, research institutions, organ procurement foundations, families, medical malpractice attorneys, and law enforcement agencies. Full-scale private autopsies start at $2,000 and run as high as $5,000. The company expects to perform more than 800 procedures this year. To market its services, APSI has painted its vans with 1-800-AUTOPSY and maintains a web site at www.1800autopsy.com In the future, new technology promises to help the company's expansion through post-mortem DNA testing and bio-hazardous clean-ups. Mr. Herrera notes that "with the aging population, we have a guaranteed market for the next 40 years."