FARMINGTON — The Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has lost full accreditation because of low staffing and inadequate refrigerated storage space for bodies.
The office announced Wednesday that the National Association of Medical Examiners has given officials until Sept. 27 to fix the problems or lose accreditation completely.
The association says state medical examiners are performing more than 325 autopsies a year, the limit set by the association. The national group says the office needs two more medical examiners to get under the limit.
Chief Medical Examiner James Gill says there are plans to add refrigerated storage space, but the legislature and governor need to approve funding for more staff.
Gill says inadequate staffing and heavy workloads can lead to mistakes, lack of confidence in the office and innocent people being imprisoned.
