Final Diagnosis, Inc.

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Final Diagnosis, Inc.

Provide full autopsy services for cause/manner of death concerns, postmortem tissue sampling/collect

08/23/2025

A friend of Marcie’s from out of state mentioned today that they had hired a national private autopsy firm (name intentionally withheld) to determine a cause of death for their family member in another state. I happened to look up this firm, and it appears they make arrangements with funeral homes (a map of the US and many funeral homes) around the country where a pathologist (hopefully licensed/qualified/board certified) then travels to come in and do an autopsy.

What is notable about the majority of these various national autopsy providers (my experience over the years) is that they never seem to mention “who” is actually doing these autopsies.

Who are these experienced and competent forensic pathologists? A famous case that I can speak of (out there already) was the Michael Brown second autopsy stemming from Ferguson, near St Louis. That autopsy was performed by a lay person (Shawn Parcells). Check out on Google. This is but one example of what can happen. In fact, that lay provider also did the TV reenactment. I was shocked. So ask: Is the exam actually being done by the pathologist or by a lay tech? If it is “assisted” by a lay tech, is that pathologist physically there during the dissection?

Is this company owned or run by a lay person and thus just a “referral service”?

Is that pathologist medically licensed in that state?

Are they able to take quality/clean photos?
How many do they take on average?

Is the family educated to whether that autopsy may answer the questions or not?

Some advertise performing toxicology with either no autopsy or with a partial autopsy. Performing toxicology without the benefit of a complete autopsy is fruitless. Was the family educated about toxicology?

I wholeheartedly support my competent forensic pathology colleagues in establishing services as much like my own. However, my stomach turns when I see lay individuals who startup referral autopsy practices or autopsy practices that are suggested to be “forensic” when the providers may lack training or are subcontracted on “the fly”. Interestingly, it is not like the cost is that much less (and sometimes it is more) than to come to Tampa. It depends on funeral plans as well .

Does the pathologist discuss the merits with the client and explain the process-before being hired?

Do these facilities have a lab setup much like a true medical examiner/coroner autopsy suite? Do they stock tools and backup tools? Or is it a funeral home prep room and the pathologist with a portable “toolbox”?

Is there added cost to use such a funeral prep room? Usually there is. Typically a hidden ost of $600 and up. Ask .

If these companies that provide autopsies are in fact experienced with vetted doctors, they would/should actually be able to mention who the pathologist(s) are. Websites for autopsy services that mention no pathologist providers, be wary. Ask questions . Ask to speak to doctor BEFORE signing anything.

I typically speak to families before and always after.
We do not charge for that initial educational/info gathering call. (This company I heard about today apparently does charge, $75 for 10 min of initial call-in). We talk many out of an autopsy exam if it is not likely going to add value or even answer their questions. Many of these free calls we engage in may be upwards of 30-60 minutes. My investigators listen, and we educate.

We take over 100 images of pertinent positive and negative images on every autopsy case. All with a clean (not scrubbed in) trained photograher who floats around me while another tech Is there for other tasks and assistance-not to do the case.

I personally perform the dissection with a few areas of assistance.

If I am unable to be available (meeting/vacation), I have a comparable experienced same board certfied FP who can cover (Dr Chrostowski). Often the cases wait for me for when I return to Tampa because I have spoken to them at length, and already know the intricate details.

I am board certified in anatomic, clinical, and forensic pathology with 35 years experience.

Despite the geographic distances, sometimes air transport, vehicular transport, coming to Tampa for an exam might actually be less expensive that these lay-owned referral services. It is worth checking.

Above all, beware of lay autopsy middle people. Ask to speak to the doctor as you get close to making the commitment. If they can’t, look around for someone else. That’s a sign. It MATTERS who you hire.

08/18/2025

Great recent cases. Sadly, but fortunately for this one family, a repeat pattern is emerging, whereby a second autopsy yields a great deal of data that the original Medical Examiner never spent the time to examine. Anterior neck layered disssection not done to completion, thryoid still covered. Hyoid never removed. Nor the tongue . Bowels never opened. Skin not dissected to expose any tissue away from traditinal incision to identify easily missed trauna (this was a custody death).

I cannot wait to read what they say they looked at in the first autopsy report. I can only hope that they do not mention doing and seeing things they did not. This is one of the dangers of templated text.

I used to say second autopsies were unlikely to yield much if another board certified FP already did one. I do not say that anymore, unless I really have experience in seeing that pathologists work (in person). Sadly, with dozens of these re-exams in the last few years I would estimate that over 50% have relevant findings, and could actually change the opinion of cause and manner. Huge surprise here and I need to formallly write this up with the redacted data and photo documentation when I can (with family auth).

In the private setting I have the luxury of time. I have the luxury of the best staff and the best photographers. Speed is not my gauge. Quality, care and doing the right thing is the metric.

Address

501 S Falkenburg Road Unit E-20
Tampa, FL
33619

Website

http://theautopsydoctor.com/

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“What Happened?”: The Need for Private Autopsies

For 30 years I have been performing complex autopsies primarily via my role as a board certified anatomic, clinical and forensic pathologist. A gap exists in understanding exactly “what happened”, particularly in deaths that do not fall under the statutory role of the medical examiner/coroner. Death certificates require simply the most probable causes, specifically that “likely” condition or conditions that lead to death. Whether that had anything to do with the true cause based solely on history (or lack of) is debatable. In reality a death certificate is good at indicating that a person “died” at a certain time/place. The death certificate in the majority of U.S. deaths is not a useful tool for statistical analyses of actual cause of death, but unfortunately the data, through no better means, is used that way. Current data on deaths due to COVID-19 are a great example. In some states that do not autopsy scene death traffic crashes, potential drug deaths, or adults under a certain age, the cause and manner determinations and time to death considerations can be completely off base. In my experience, most autopsies identify something new, often something interesting, and many times a variety of potential serious natural conditions, and even unknown traumatic causes are sometimes found. Further, just because a condition did not cause the death (yet) does not mean it is not important to know about, particularly for children and siblings. The presence of cancers, infections, heritable conditions, heart disease, neurologic conditions can be important things to know. Hospitals decades ago began lowering the rate of autopsies. The reason why is not entirely clear but perceived cost is one, combined with disinterest and lack of substantial autopsy experience by most hospital pathologists. Objectively documented complete autopsy findings can save grief and costs by ending speculation. Speculation is our enemy as it wastes time/money and fuels distrust. Documenting the lack of a finding (through a photo for example) may be just as important as documenting when we see a lesion. At Final Diagnosis Inc. the goal is simply to say and show what we see. For more info see www.theautopsydoctor.com