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Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Autopsy

Hours and Scheduling for Autopsies

Autopsies will be performed Monday through Friday during regular working hours from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Autopsies will not be performed on weekdays after 5:00 pm, on weekends, or on long holiday weekends except for patients with suspected neurologic/metabolic/genetic diseases that require immediate collection of tissues for diagnosis. The pathology resident on-call should be contacted after hours or on weekends regarding autopsy issues.

Decedent Affairs (916) 734-2885 / (916) 734-3393) will notify the AP Administrative Assistant of a pending autopsy at 9:00 am for morning autopsies and  between 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm for afternoon autopsies. The AP Administrative Assistant will then contact the following during normal weekday office hours:

  1. Coroner’s Office
  2. Attending pathologist assigned to the autopsy service
  3. Resident on the autopsy service
    • The resident on autopsy service will notify the requesting physician (faculty, fellow and/or resident) by pager or phone as to when the autopsy will take place, and invite the requesting physician to attend the autopsy or make arrangement for him/her to view the findings.
    • Documentation that the requesting physician was notified and invited to view the findings should be included in the PAD report.