Autopsy Pathology

Stanford’s Autopsy Service performs autopsies on deceased patients within the Stanford Healthcare and Stanford Children’s Health whose families or physician request an autopsy. Our service does not perform autopsies for patients who have not been treated within our system.

In addition to answering questions about the cause and manner of death for the patient’s family and treatment team, the Autopsy Service also provides training for pathology residents and pathologists' assistant students in the principles and practice of anatomic pathology through the performance of autopsies.

Autopsies also play a valuable role in continually advancing our understanding of disease. The autopsy results allow clinicians to better understand disease processes, diagnose diseases more accurately, improve therapy, and potentially aid other patients who are currently suffering from a similar disease.

Approximately 160 autopsies are performed each year at Stanford University Medical Center. Special interests of the Autopsy Service include genotypic-pathological and physiologic-pathological correlation.