Clinch Pathology Associates will perform autopsies on a case for case basis
and we have limited the autopsies to examination of the lungs only - for black
lung purposes. We do not perform autopsies to determine the cause of death.
When
an autopsy is performed generally the entire lungs are removed. In cases
specified lung biopsy only - it still must be understood that the chest cavity
has to be opened so representative pieces of lung can be removed. Lung tissue
retrieved via a needle biopsy through the chest does not yield adequate tissue
for evaluation.
We perform autopsies at the morgue at Clinch Valley Medical
Center. We do not travel to local and surrounding funeral homes to perform an
autopsy. If the body is at a funeral home we request the body to be brought to
the hospital morgue, which may result in an additional expense by the funeral
home.
The autopsy itself generally takes 2 to 4 hours to perform
depending on the difficulty of the dissection. However, medical records must
also be reviewed, the lungs sectioned and representative sections submitted,
the tissue the processed and then examined microscopically. All of this
information is incorporated into a dictated and transcribed report.
We try
to release the final autopsy report within 30 days of performing the autopsy
as recommended by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and for those
cases requiring longer 60 days is allotted.
