WHEN WILL AN AUTOPSY BE PERFORMED?     Autopsies will be begun on weekdays before 3:00pm. At any other time they will be performed at the discretion of the prosector and when transportation is available. Autopsies will be expedited for reasons of religious custom, a need to transport the body elsewhere and the need to obtain suitable blood cultures and biochemical analyses. The Department of Pathology will accept any of the following appropriately completed forms listed in the order of preference: the approved autopsy permit (6A-9-A, Rev. 8/11/79) of the Oregon Health Sciences University, a comparable written permit or a permit submitted by telegram. In the latter case, a properly witnessed verbal permit will be accepted provided a written telegram is forthcoming. The exact wording of the permission is to be honored in all cases. A. AUTOPSIES PERFORMED ON ADULTS.     The right to control the disposition of the remains of a decedent and to sign a permit rest with any of the following persons in order of priority stated, when persons in higher priority classes are not available at the time of death, and in the absence of actual notice of opposition by a member of the same or a prior class.     1.    The spouse.     2.    A son or daughter eighteen years of age or older.     3.    Either parent.     4.    A brother or sister eighteen years of age or older.     5.    A guardian of the decedent at the time of his/her death.     6.    A person in the next degree of kindred. B. AUTOPSIES PERFORMED ON A LIVE BIRTH, STILLBIRTH (FETAL DEATH) OR CHILD:     DEFINITIONS:     Live birth means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which after such separation, breathes or shows any evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsations of the umbilical cord, or definite movements of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered live-born.     Stillbirth means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, of at least 20 weeks gestation, except where such expulsion or extraction results from a therapeutic abortion. An autopsy permit is required for autopsies performed on a live-birth or a stillbirth. Only one parent, provided he/she is competent, need sign an autopsy permit for an autopsy performed on a live birth, a stillbirth or child. C. AUTOPSIES PERFORMED ON THERAPEUTIC ABORTION:     The Autopsy Service does not require that an autopsy permit be filled out for an abortus 150 days or less. When an autopsy is requested after the 150 days or less. Under these circumstances and according to ORS 435.445 the Tissue Committee of the medical center will be notified. When the length of gestation is not determined, the following criteria will be used in estimating the gestational age: weight 400gm. or more and/or crown-heel length 28 cm or more. D.    AUTOPSIES PERFORMED ON UNCLAIMED BODIES:     The Pathology Department may perform autopsies on patients whose bodies are not claimed by relative or responsible agencies. In all such cases the authority for autopsy permission rest with the Medical Examiner's Office (248-3746). E.    NOTIFICATION OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE:     ORS statutes require that the Medical Examiner's Office be notified in deaths associated with the following circumstances: a violent or unnatural death, an unattended death, a death of a person admitted to hospital or institution for less than 24 hours, a drug death, a jail death, death related to employment, death associated with a communicable disease which poses a potentially serious public health hazard, and deaths occurring under suspicious or unknown circumstances. It is the primary responsibility of the clinician to notify the Medical Examiner's Office. The prosector, however, may do so. Under policies of the Admissions Office, the Medical Examiner's Office is notified by telephone of deaths in this institution, and a jurisdictional decision obtained prior to notification of Pathology. The prosector should consult the authorizing(deputy) M.E. prior to any autopsy of a body over which he/she assumes jurisdiction and notify the authorizing party of the preliminary autopsy diagnoses. Phone Number of the Medical Examiner's Office: 248-3746.