Facility and Statistics

The Autopsy Service is located in the Brady Memorial Lab at 310 Cedar Street. The Yale New Haven Hospital autopsy/morgue suite consists of an office, two autopsy rooms, a shared procedures room, a special procedures room, a refrigerated decedent storage room, and an observation room. The space is designed for the safety of the staff with negative pressure ventilation. The facility does not include a bereavement room because patient viewings should be done on the floor, prior to the patient being brought to the morgue or at a funeral home.

All decedents are released from the designated area by a licensed funeral director, licensed embalmer, or a forensic technician from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Patients cannot be released from the hospital floors directly. There is an area where patients may be kept outside of cold storage for those religions that do not allow patients to be cooled. There is also a separate exit that can be used to release these patients to the funeral home. The staff will do their best to accommodate any religious needs. Please contact the office directly to discuss those needs and how the staff can help facilitate.

Yale New Haven Hospital performs the most hospital autopsies in the state of Connecticut, with a 10-year average of 267 per year. Yale New Haven Hospital aspires to perform as many autopsies as possible as a service to the patients and their families. The Autopsy Service will perform an autopsy free of charge for decedents that pass away at Yale New Haven Hospital York Street and Saint Raphael Campus, Bridgeport Hospital, Greenwich Hospital (pediatric only), and Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System–West Haven. In addition, the Autopsy Service will perform an autopsy free of charge for decedents that pass away outside the affiliate establishments but have been seen recently at the above institutions. Yale New Haven Hospital also offers private autopsy for a prepaid fee. Please visit the Requesting an Autopsy page for more information on who may have an autopsy performed at Yale New Haven Hospital.