Here’s the back story. A close friend’s 40-year-old daughter died suddenly on Tuesday. My friend was asked by hospital personnel if she wanted an autopsy. Knowing her daughter’s wishes to be an organ donor, she declined and signed a form saying so. But later it was determined that her daughter’s organs could not be used due to an infection. There were also other questions about care in the emergency room as well as care by her regular doctor. Because of the questions, including the fact that apparently no one knew of the infection, my friend now thinks an autopsy would be a good idea. But my friend has been told (not sure by whom) that an autopsy might cost $3,000. Is this the way it works? Is the family responsible for this payment?
Not to seem insensitive, but if no crime occurred, and the cause of death is understood, I see no reason why the public should foot the bill. If there is a possible lawsuit against a doctor I would assume that the family would be on the hook to gather the evidence needed to go after the doctor. Probably not the answer you wanted to hear.
Actually, the cause of death is not understood. In fact, the medical examiner signed off on a death certificate that listed cause of death as “unknown.” My friend had assumed the cause was a blood clot in her lungs based on a mistaken assumption that the daughter’s main problem was severe anemia caused by extremely heavy bleeding during her period. Now it appears that was not the case and the family would like to know the cause.
My mother died suddenly at her home back in the mid 80’s. There was no foul play but my sister wanted a autopsy for COD as her health was mirroring Mom’s and she wanted what specifically killed her.
FTR, It was a Massive Cerebral Hemorrhage which the coroner suspected. We payed for the autopsy which I think was almost $1000 back then. (in the state of Georgia).
It may depend on jurisdiction, but from my experience, an autopsy to determine CoD that is not required by the state does end up presenting a cost to the family of the deceased.
I am interested that a medical examiner was called in and didn’t present a cause of death. Are you sure the death certificate wasn’t just signed by the attending doctor?
I’m really not entirely sure of everything. As for an attending doctor, I don’t know what the situation was. The daughter was brought in by squad to the emergency room. The daughter’s boyfriend is the main source of information for the mother so far. The mother lives here in Ohio, the daughter lived just outside DC in Alexandria, Virginia. I believe the daughter died around 5:30 (less than a half hour after being brought in to the ER), the mother caught a 7:30 flight and arrived on the scene around 9 pm. But by then as far as I can tell, none of the ER team who had actually been present were still there, or at least not available to provide information. However, the mother noticed when she was being given paperwork for signature that the daughter’s first name was spelled incorrectly and that the date of birth was completely wrong. In addition, someone mentioned a previous admission to that hospital, and the daughter had never been admitted to that hospital. It seems that the hospital had pulled up the wrong record and it now appears that the wrong personal physician was notified.
I’m getting this in bits and pieces and it may be that there was nothing rising to the level of malpractice but I never before considered the issue of who bears the expense of an autopsy. I gather that if she had not declined the first offer, it might have been billed to the daughter’s estate but that may no longer be an option. And I’m not trying to stir up outrage at the idea that the family might have to pay, just never had occasion to consider this question before. And I didn’t realize how costly they could be, although I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise.