Basics
Each autopsy is divided into 3-5 minute video parts. These can be watched in order to view the entire case. Or, accessed via the
search function,
Body Map,
History or
Clinical Panels. Study individual cases, narrow searches to content of specific interest, or compare across the database.
The Anatomy Panel is a growing collection of selected interactive videos which pause to highlight anatomy using numbers and pointers. Each number identifies an anatomic structure listed to the right of the video. This functions like “anatomy pins” found in a anatomy lab.
Cases with digital anatomy pins can be found by selecting “Anatomy Panel” under the top “Features” menu.
Cases with digital anatomy pins can also be found by selecting the “Anatomy” Library option (top box) in the main Library search page.
-Search by Library, Case, Body System or Search Term.
-The first (top) search box list “Library” as default. Leave it there to search the entire database.
Switch to “Anatomy” to search for cases which include anatomy pins.
Switch to “Student” for cases that show organs but not views of the full body.
-The second search box (“Cases”) lists cases (Case 1, Case 2, etc.).
-The third search box (“Body System”) lists body system (Cardiovascular, Endocrine, etc.).
-The fourth (bottom) search box allows use of specific search terms (“Superior vena cava,” “hyoid bone,” etc.).
More:
-Search for anatomy within a case or compare anatomy across cases.
You may search for a finding within a case. Or, you may compare one findings across cases. For example, when you search by case and select Case 1 and then add the search term “right coronary artery,” you will select videos from Case 1 that show the right coronary artery. If you do not select by case and simply enter search term “right coronary artery,” you will select videos from all cases that show the right coronary artery.
-Search for isolated anatomic structures or anatomic relationships.
More than one search term can be entered in the search term box to refine or expand your video access. For example, entering “superior vena cava, inferior vena cava, atrium” will show video including all these structures.
If this happens, the following are possibilities:
-The term may be listed under different language or spelling. Please try your term in singular or plural (“lung” or “lungs”). Or try an alternate term (“cardiac” or “heart”).
-Our cases may not yet contain the anatomy or pathology you are looking for. The library archiving function is growing and we appreciate your input and questions. Please feel free to check with us to see if we can help find what your are looking for.
Yes. Each video has a “What’s inside” list of search terms. Feel free to view the list before playing the video in addition to using the search function. This can help you know if the video is partly or mostly about the topic you’re interested in. The case image also provides information. Often, you can tell if we’re working on the external exam, general opening, organ block or individual organs.
There are several ways to access video.
-Use the Library.
-Select a body region from Body Map.
-Select the case number from the History.
-Select a topic from the Clinical Panels.
Yes. You may find a page tours, tutorial videos and a skill-check on the
Site Training page.
Subscriptions and Billing
Please
contact us. We will assist you.
-Login
-Select “My Account” from the top menu.
-Select “My Subscription” from the right column.
-View your subscription details.
-Click the grey box at the bottom that says “Cancel.”
-Your subscription will cancel and you will not be billed again.
-You will still have access for the full length of the subscription you paid for. You just won’t be billed again and your subscription will not renew.
Yes. Please feel free to
contact us to discuss your needs.
The GoLive subscription provides access only to live streams and live events.
-The order is your record of payment.
-Your subscription is the plan you paid for.
-Your membership is the content on the site your subscription plan grants you.
It’s confusing. If you cancel your subscription early, your membership will continue for the full length you paid for and you will still have access for the full length you paid for.
No.
No. The site uses the secure, third-party payment platforms, PayPal and Stripe. We never see your credit card information, do not access your credit card information and cannot access your credit card information.
Tech and Site Use
There are multiple login options.
-Login through an Institutional Code plus your email (or username) and password.
-The site is also compatible with SSO/SAML (Shibboleth, Open Athens, etc.).
-The site is also accessible via EZProxy.
-The site can also be placed onto chromebooks, on-site computer stations and other individual devices (with or without additional login).
Yes.
Yes.
You may log in to one device at a time. You may log in to any device anytime. However, if login to one device and then login to a second device, you will be logged out of the first device. For example, if you login on mobile, and then login on desktop, you will be automatically logged out of mobile.
Please contact us if you wish to set up multiple-device or institutional access.
You may login to one browser at at time. You may log in to any browser anytime. However, if you have one active login on one browser and then login to a second browser on the same device, you will be logged out of the first browser. For example, if you login on Chrome and then login on Firefox on the same device, you will be logged out of Chrome.
Please contact us if you wish to set up multiple-device (multi-browser) or institutional access.
No.
Yes. All videos have English closed captions (unless there is no audio). Closed captions are turn on, by default. Turn off (or back on) closed captions, by clicking “CC” in lower right of video. Use for quiet viewing without sound or to assist with audio. Audio can be variable due to site circumstances (background noise, physician use of fume mask, etc.). We recommend leaving closed captions on.
Yes. Most videos have foreign language subtitles. And all of them will. Turn on subtitles by clicking “CC” in lower right of video and selecting a language. Current subtitles are in Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. Please
let us know if you wish to suggest specific language for subtitles and we can consider.
The Terms of Use may be found
here.
The site is accessible on all types of devices: mobile, tablet and laptop/desktop. The site is streamlined on mobile device. Additional features are present on tablet or larger (interactive video, anatomic variation, curriculum, etc.). If you are on mobile, we recommend switching settings to “Desktop” to access all the features.
Yes. If you are on mobile, we recommend switching settings to “Desktop” to access all the autopsy.online features.
More about our video
Interactive video is a duplicate copy of a video that you can edit. You may mark the video and add a note to the marker. Your note appears in a column on the right. Clicking on the note jumps to the marker in the video. Interactive video is for institutional group work — students work together with synced video like anatomy lab groups.
-Login
-Select “My Account” from top menu
-Click the “Login or Sign Up” link at the bottom of the page.
-Sign in or set up account.
-Come back to Autopsy.Online and refresh your browser.
-Any notes or drawings will be saved on your interactive video.
Like live streaming, we only video-record cases when the legal next of kin
authorizes video-recording. We do not make that choice. The patient’s and family’s privacy and confidentiality are our priority. The case will not be video-recorded without consent. We typically ask the family during the consent process if they wish to video-record for education. For some cases, we will not make the request (for example, cases under criminal investigation or children).
Yes.
If we are video-recording and live streaming at the same time, we prepare the body before video-recording by covering the face, written identifiers (name tags and case numbers) and other visual identifiers (tattoos). During the case we do not disclose case identifiers (patient name, age, unique case details). The case facility and location are not disclosed. If we are video recording but not live streaming, we edit the video after the case and before publication to remove any case identifiers.
As with live streaming, families who want to participate in health education or believe their loved one valued health education have chosen to video-record the case for education. Other families who have not been able to participate in organ donation have sought video recording for educational purposes as an alternative to “make a difference” for the future. Every family is different and chooses for reasons unique to them.
Our video recordings are open to all subscribers. At times, we share clips with the general public.
No. There is no cost to the family to video record for education.
The trade-off with real
No. Cases are performed at the request of families for their closure and peace of mind. During the consent process, we gently ask if families wish also to allow us to record for teaching. The focus during the case is the case and the family, not the recording.
We always put the patient first. Sometime we may pause a video when it interferes technically or end the video when we prefer to focus only on the casework. It is not a goal to video the case from start to finish. We do as much as we can while focusing on our patient care goals. (See also other FAQ’s in the section.)
Case photos are sometime available for a case. If these show something of teaching value, we will incorporate this into the cases to share with you. Not every cases will have photographs to share. We make use of any consented, available teaching material, whether videographic or photographic. This means the cases will vary in visual style. Our goal is not perfect production. It’s to let the body teach in whatever way it can. We’re honored the families have given us permission to share whatever it is we have.
We cannot show you rulers with labels in order to protect the patient confidentiality. Sometimes the label will be blurred out and you will see the ruler. Other times, we will crop out the ruler during editing and focus on the specimen. The ruler is there but outside the frame. It’s to protect the confidentiality. Again, the purpose of the case is not to produce it for our viewers. It’s to perform a medically sound cases for the family. And then we work with what we have to bring you this gift from the family.
Think of it like being an emergency room provider. You won’t always have the medical record when the patient walks in the door. Our patients comes to us from “the field” or a hospital or elsewhere. The family typically does not have medical records with them right when their loved one has died. We start by obtaining the history from the family. Sometimes we are able to access records, and we share these with you. But most of the time, we cannot. Managing medical uncertainty — making the best decisions with limited information — is an important skill the site values. What part of the history the family provides seems reliable? How could you tell? What is your differential diagnosis of a condition when lacking certain clinical information? Can you generate a list of question you’d need to get you farther? We consider these skills a strength of the site. You’ll need them with your real patients. Practice here.
Videos are blurred at certain points to prevent exposure of patient identifiers that may appear during a case (labels, name tags, tattoos, etc.).
We do not provide the age to protect the patient confidentiality. Instead, we use general terms (middle-aged, elderly, etc.).
Contributing
Yes, in some cases. Please contact us to see if it is possible to make this arrangement. You will need to complete a
consent. And we will need to make sure the logistics are feasible for any individual case. There is no cost to you to donate for video recording. We can also video record when the family requests an autopsy for another reason and then consents to video record for education. Please
contact us to learn more.
The donation consent may be found
here.
Yes. You may establish a private Institutional Database or contribute generally to the site Library. Please
contact us to learn more.
Video Lab
The
Video Lab is a video processing service provided by Autopsy.Online. It serves to create uniformly high quality video content for the shared Library. Contributors may submit video footage to the Video Lab.
Yes. We encourage pathologists, surgeons and anatomists with access to unique anatomy to simply plant a video camera or strap on a GoPro and send us the file. (We will only share the content where you authorize — either into your private, Institutional Database or, at your request, our shared Library. It will not be shared with any third party.)
You do not need to have video skills, just an interest in sharing a video-donation gift from your patient. Focus on your work. We’ll do the rest through our Video Lab.
Please
contact us to learn more.
Please
contact us to learn more.
If you are submitting for your private Institutional database and have not requested editing, it’s best not to submit the video. It will be rejected.
If you are submitting to the Library or your private Institutional database (with editing), we will catch the identifier and edit it out. We are skilled and experienced at keeping patient confidentiality. If you are aware of where in the video the patient identifier was exposed, we appreciate you dropping us a note so we can get right to it and remove it.
If you submit video repeatedly with multiple exposed patient identifiers, you will receive a warning and a follow-up trial period. If you are unable to provide video free of identifiers, we may no longer accept your video for consideration.
If you routinely work on a part of the body that identifies the patient (e.g. facial surgery), please talk to us to see if we can make an exception. Your work is valuable and we appreciate it. Our commitment to patient confidentiality, however, is greater than our educational goals. Let’s be sure to work together on this. See also (5., above).
Live Stream
Live streaming is video broadcasting of the autopsy in real-time while we do the case. During live streaming, we interact with the viewers by taking on-line questions and answering them live during the case.
You will receive an email notice as soon as we know we are live streaming. This may be a day before the event or minutes before the event. It depends on when we receive written authorization from the legal next of kin.
-Go to the
Live Stream page to access a event.
We don’t know. A lot of things need to coordinate for a live event to happen: A person has to die, the family has to request an autopsy, we have to agree to do the autopsy, the family has to consent to live streaming and the case location has to have working internet access.
No. We live stream when we can and only if the family consents.
We may end the case early or even after a few minutes for many reasons. For example: we may need to focus on the case for technical reasons; we may need to protect the confidentiality of the patient; or internet access at the particular location does not allow for adequate streaming. While we make every effort to complete the case, we use our judgement and keep the family and case first.
We do not guarantee that any event will be streamable. We perform many of our cases in community locations outside our Center and are dependent on that location’s internet access.
We go dark (turn off visual and, often, audio), when we need to protect the patient confidentiality. We cannot stream the visual at that time. Examples would be during case photography (when we use a patient name and case number label) or when we need to expose tattoos. The patient and family are always the priority and the live streaming comes second. Thank you for understanding.
More about Live Streaming
We only live stream cases when the legal next of kin
authorizes live streaming. We do not make that choice. The patient’s and family’s privacy and confidentiality are our priority. The case will not be live streamed without consent. We typically ask the family during the consent process if they wish to live stream. For some cases, we will not make the request (for example, cases under criminal investigation or children).
Yes.
We prepare the body before the live stream by covering the face, written identifiers (name tags and case numbers) and other visual identifiers (tattoos). During the case we do not disclose case identifiers (patient name, age, unique case details). The case facility and location are not disclosed.
Families who want to participate in health education or believe their loved one valued health education have chosen to live stream the cases. Other families who have not been able to participate in organ donation have sought live streaming as an alternative to “make a difference” for the future. Every family is different and chooses for reasons unique to them.
Live stream is open to all subscribers.
No. There is no cost to the family to live stream.
Yes, in some cases. Please contact us to see if it is possible to make this arrangement. You will need to complete a consent. And we will need to make sure the logistics are feasible for any individual case. There is no cost to you to donate for live streaming. We can also live stream when the family requests an autopsy for another reason and then, in addition, consents to live stream. Please
contact us to learn more about donating for video education.
Live streaming is live video broadcast of an autopsy to the general public. It includes interactive Q & A.
Live from the Morgue is Autopsy Center of Chicago’s structured high school event using archived autopsy footage. It includes a workbook, social worker involvement and live Q & A with students during the event.
The Autopsy App
Yes. The name of the App is “Autopsy.” Links to the App Store and Google Play may be found
here.
The Autopsy app functions like a preview of Autopsy.Online. The app has about 100 videos on it, while Autopsy.Online has about 250 with regular updates, search function, educator content and interactive features. The app is not a mini-version of autopsy.online, but contains some of the videos found on autopsy.online.
The app is an economical way to view some of the content, preview some of our videos prior to subscribing to autopsy.online, and geared to the general public.
Yes.
Culture, diversity, background
We are aware of the evolving use of race-based terms in medicine. We are sensitive to the dissolution of meaning of these terms in patients with multiracial backgrounds; as well as the significance of these terms in discussions of health care disparities. We leave these terms in to leave open the door for a variety of important discussions, including consideration of larger cultural issues and self-reflection on bias and comfort. Educators using our platform in the classroom setting may choose to explore student attitudes and biases towards patients of different backgrounds.
Read our statement on diversity, equity and inclusion
here.
