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LA Times: 180 bodies are stacked up in L.A. County morgue, coroner says
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86190487/
180 bodies are stacked up in L.A. County morgue, coroner says
Los Angeles' chief medical examiner-coroner, Dr. Mark Fajardo, said he plans to resign from his position.
ABBY SEWELL, Richard Winton
March 11, 2016, 9:02 p.m.
After Herneisha Thomas’ 35-year-old brother was shot to death off West Vernon Avenue last June, her grief was compounded by delays.
Thomas said she had to wait weeks before the Los Angeles County coroner’s office released the body of Deontra LaJohn Gant. Meanwhile, she said, her family was in limbo and couldn’t set a date for the services. When the funeral did happen, Gant’s body had slightly decomposed.
“He had an open casket, but he was darker than what he should have been because he sat there for so long,” she said.
Other families have had even longer delays from the coroner’s office, which handles more than 8,500 cases a year. Currently, about 180 bodies are stacked up at the Los Angeles County morgue because of delays in processing. Toxicology tests are taking more than six months to complete, with a backlog of about several hundred. Staff members are quitting for better positions elsewhere.
And after just two years on the job, the top medical examiner, Mark Fajardo, is walking away from an office in crisis. Fajardo said he submitted his letter of resignation to county supervisors Friday. Fajardo will return to his former position as the chief forensic pathologist in Riverside County, officials said.
“Ultimately, I wasn’t supplied the resources I need to perform my job duties,” Fajardo said. “Every year we made requests for positions that needed to be filled ... Each year we were not supplied the personnel we need.”
When Fajardo came to L.A. County in August 2013, he said he was promised more resources. Understaffing, Fajardo said, had contributed to a “huge backlog.”
“It’s hard to quantify,” he said of the backlog. Typically, he said, there are about “50 or 60” bodies in storage, waiting to be processed. He said his office usually tries to complete autopsies within 60 days.
But the delays have been getting worse, particularly in cases that require toxicology tests. One such case is the death of 19-year-old Katie Dix, who went into respiratory and cardiac distress seven months ago at a music festival. Although the Cal State Channel Islands student’s body has been released to her family, the cause of her death still hasn’t been determined.
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180 bodies are stacked up in L.A. County morgue, coroner says
Los Angeles' chief medical examiner-coroner, Dr. Mark Fajardo, said he plans to resign from his position.
ABBY SEWELL, Richard Winton
March 11, 2016, 9:02 p.m.
After Herneisha Thomas’ 35-year-old brother was shot to death off West Vernon Avenue last June, her grief was compounded by delays.
Thomas said she had to wait weeks before the Los Angeles County coroner’s office released the body of Deontra LaJohn Gant. Meanwhile, she said, her family was in limbo and couldn’t set a date for the services. When the funeral did happen, Gant’s body had slightly decomposed.
“He had an open casket, but he was darker than what he should have been because he sat there for so long,” she said.
Other families have had even longer delays from the coroner’s office, which handles more than 8,500 cases a year. Currently, about 180 bodies are stacked up at the Los Angeles County morgue because of delays in processing. Toxicology tests are taking more than six months to complete, with a backlog of about several hundred. Staff members are quitting for better positions elsewhere.
And after just two years on the job, the top medical examiner, Mark Fajardo, is walking away from an office in crisis. Fajardo said he submitted his letter of resignation to county supervisors Friday. Fajardo will return to his former position as the chief forensic pathologist in Riverside County, officials said.
“Ultimately, I wasn’t supplied the resources I need to perform my job duties,” Fajardo said. “Every year we made requests for positions that needed to be filled ... Each year we were not supplied the personnel we need.”
When Fajardo came to L.A. County in August 2013, he said he was promised more resources. Understaffing, Fajardo said, had contributed to a “huge backlog.”
“It’s hard to quantify,” he said of the backlog. Typically, he said, there are about “50 or 60” bodies in storage, waiting to be processed. He said his office usually tries to complete autopsies within 60 days.
But the delays have been getting worse, particularly in cases that require toxicology tests. One such case is the death of 19-year-old Katie Dix, who went into respiratory and cardiac distress seven months ago at a music festival. Although the Cal State Channel Islands student’s body has been released to her family, the cause of her death still hasn’t been determined.
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