Editor’s Note: The following was submitted to Now Habersham by Banks County Coroner Mark Savage who serves as 1st Vice President of the Georgia Coroner’s Association. For more information, contact him at [email protected].
As Banks County Coroner and 1st Vice President of the Georgia Coroner’s Association, I am writing you to make you aware of an issue that will affect many citizens in the State of Georgia. I am hopeful that you will help us get the word out to the citizens about this change.
On August 21, a memo from Dr. Jonathan Eisenstat, Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Georgia, was sent out to Coroners, Medical Examiners, District Attorneys, and Law Enforcement agencies around the State of Georgia. This memo was to advise those agencies that the Central Regional (Macon) Medical Examiner’s Office would suspend operations indefinitely, effective October 1, 2020. The memo stated this was due to a Medical Examiner retiring at the Central Regional Office and that a replacement had not been found. The memo stated that they had been actively trying to recruit a pathologist to work in the Central Regional Office since December 13, 2019, and had not received any qualified applicants.
“With the closure of this lab, the time to get an autopsy done will increase and the time to get the reports back could be six months or greater.”
The Medical Examiner’s Office is the source of much of the information and evidence that coroners in each county rely upon to determine the cause and manner of a death or injury and, if appropriate, to pursue an arrest and conviction. These labs not only perform services for coroners and do analysis for the law enforcement communities, but they also perform evidence analysis, toxicology tests, blood alcohol tests, and ballistics tests, and provide expert witnesses to explain their findings to juries.
Currently, if an autopsy is needed it can take a couple days to get an open table at the lab to perform an autopsy and another day or two for the autopsy to be done. Currently, it is taking three months or more to get the autopsy, toxicology, and histology reports back. With the closure of this lab, the time to get an autopsy done will increase and the time to get the reports back could be six months or greater.
This delay will put a burden on families due to the fact that it will increase the time for us to get their loved ones back from the lab so that they can have a proper burial of their loved ones. It will also delay the completion of the death certificate because a certificate cannot be completed until the reports are done. This means that families could be looking at six months or more on being able to collect from their life insurance policies, which will also cause delays for funeral homes in getting their payments for the funeral expenses. This delay could also interfere with law enforcement and district attorneys making prosecutable cases.
“We are asking the citizens to please reach out to your representatives on both the state and county level to help us in this fight to keep this lab open.”
In the State of Georgia, 153 of the 159 Coroner’s Offices use the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office. Due to the closure of this one lab, all 153 Coroners Offices, Law Enforcement Offices, District Attorneys, and citizens will be affected. In addition to the delays that have already been mentioned, some of the Coroner’s Offices will take a financial hit. Those Coroner’s Offices that do not have morgues/coolers could possibly have to rent storage to hold the decedents for several days. Other Coroners will have to increase their budget for transport expenses to the lab since they will be traveling a greater distance.
The Georgia Coroner’s Training Council and the Coroner’s Association, which represents the Coroners in Georgia, are hoping to meet with representatives from the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office, Governor’s Office, and the GBI Director in the coming days about the closure. Representatives of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association have also been made aware of the meeting and will hopefully be in attendance.
We are asking the citizens to please reach out to your representatives on both the state and county level to help us in this fight to keep this lab open.
I also encourage you to reach out to your local Coroner’s Office, Local Law Enforcement, and District Attorneys about the impact this closure will have on their offices and local citizens.
