Autopsy | Decedent Affairs

Autopsy | Decedent Affairs

UCLA's autopsy service provides complete autopsies, brain only (in dementia cases), limited autopsies, or referrals for difficult diagnostic problems in specific organ systems to:

• Determine cause of death
• Verify clinical diagnoses
• Assess effectiveness of therapy
• Clarify clinical findings
• Address family concerns
• Help physicians
• Elucidate unknown disease processes or screen for congenital abnormalities

Autopsy benefits the future practice of medicine by a thorough evaluation of the presence and extent of human disease in patients succumbing to those diseases and evaluation of the effectiveness of therapeutic procedures. The UCLA autopsy service also offers second opinion referrals for review of diagnostically difficult cases.