FARMINGTON -- The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is expecting to lose its accreditation in January due to staffing issues.
James Gill, M.D. Chief Medical Examiner, released a letter from the National Association of Medical Examiners, NAME, and stated, "Current phase II deficiencies will result in loss of full accreditation of the OCME. They note that 'Phase II standards are considered essential requirements and any such deficiency may seriously impact the work' of the OCME."
"Mistakes by a medical examiner’s office put people’s lives at risk, can result in the innocent imprisoned, and cost millions of dollars in civil claims," said Gill in an email.
NAME said the state's office had "inadequate funding and insufficient staffing." They determined there were an insufficient numbers of forensic pathologists, medicolegal death investigators, and clerical personnel for the volume of cases in the state.
The lack of accreditation will impact the credibility of the office in criminal and civil proceedings according to NAME.
Gill said the organization will visit OCME in January and they expect the accreditation will be lost at that time.
Gill said over the in May, there has been a 58 percent increase in autopsies in the state over the past two years, “in large part due the increase in our investigations of substance abuse deaths.” For accidental intoxication, there has been a 27.29 percent increase in deaths between 2014 and 2015, and the number for 2016 could be even higher.
He related the issues to individual families, who without the “dedicated” staff that works overtime, would have to delay funerals and collection of life insurance due to what would be a backlog in autopsies and issuing of death certificates.
Governor Malloy's budget office issued a statement Wednesday in response:
“Dr. Gill and his staff have the unenviable duty of facing the worst of the opioid crisis which has increased the number of autopsies the Chief Medical Examiner must perform. We appreciate the insights of outside accreditation entities, but the legislature and Governor must ultimately set the resource levels for the agency. We will strongly consider the requests of OCME in developing the Governor’s budget proposal and we will continue working with DMHAS and first responders across the state to fight opioid addiction and prevent overdose deaths.”
The Malloy administration's Office of Policy and Management also pointed to a 2015 US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology report that notes, "Of the estimated 2,479 medicolegal death investigation offices in the United States, less than 100 are accredited by either the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) or the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IAC&ME), the only two accrediting bodies in the United States for medicolegal death investigation institutions. ”
