If a person dies suddenly or unexpectedly without a significant medical history or in a suspected violent means the death investigation will most likely fall under the Coroner or Medical Examiner jurisdiction and the autopsy examination will be paid for by tax dollars. In Colorado, each county Coroner's Office will decide if an autopsy needs to be performed and if so, the county has a budget to pay for these autopsies. If a family wishes to have an autopsy performed that does not fall under the Coroner or Medical Examiners jurisdiction or the office "releases" the case without an autopsy, they can contract with a pathologist to perform a "private" autopsy. The Pathology Group can help with private autopsies and they do perform these types of autopsy examinations.