Download a printable copy of this checklist
- Obtain consent to an autopsy donation for research purposes from the family
- Contact researchers to confirm that they are interested in receiving tissue
See Kids v Cancer Researchers’ page to select researchers to receive tissue
Donations to several researchers can be made from one autopsy
Email researchers and request autopsy protocols. Review each protocol for:- timing requirements of autopsy (often within 12 hours of death)
- tissue shipping requirements: fresh (in media on wet ice), frozen (on dry ice), or fixed (in formalin or paraformaldehyde)
- Contact the pathologists to provide them with background on the autopsy and tissue donation
Alert pathologists to the likely timing
- Review staffing of pathologists on weekends/nights
- Obtain email/pager for pathologist to be contacted when death occurs
- Provide researchers’ email/phone numbers to pathologists
Review the autopsy protocols, including:- Types of tissue/quantity of tissue/timing/resection technique
- storage/shipment of tissue/FedEx number
- Confirm pathologist has sterile drapes, gloves, scalpels, containers for tissue collection
- Funeral parlor (for children who die at home)
Contact funeral parlor early
- Review timing requirements
- Does funeral parlor use a third party for after-hours transportation? If so, do they know timing requirements and morgue procedure?
- Review whether there will be any additional legal authorizations required for transportation of a body across county/state lines, or for determination of death after hours for purposes of transportation
Transportation expenses- Request a donation of free transport services from home to morgue and from morgue to the funeral parlor (almost all funeral parlors consent)
- If denied, identify other sources of funding for transportation
Morgue- Confirm hours, address, how to enter during closed hours
- Obtain email/pager for person to contact during closed hours
- After pronouncement of death contact funeral home, pathologist, and researcher
confirm autopsy and shipment with family