Money is a deciding factor for both the government and the medical examiners.
Medical Examiners
The medical examiners are not viewing crime scenes and not viewing bodies because they have conflicts and the fee for the autopsy was too low before the reform. Most of the medical examiners hired by the state have a career as doctors and perform the duties of a medical examiner between their shifts. They simply do not have time to drive out to crime scenes and perform the autopsies and reports to the standard required. Also, the fee before the reform was too low. Medical examiners were losing most of the $100 fee to travel expenses to view the crime scene.
Raising the fee from $100 to $250 provides more money for travel expenses and allows medical examiners to make enough money for it to be worth a drive to the crime scene. However, the medical examiners have been able to collect the $100 without viewing the crime scene and sometimes without viewing the bodies. This is why a system of checks needs to be put in place to prevent the medical examiner from continuing their bad habits.
The State
The medical examiner system does not have the required budget in order to implement reform. An extra four million dollars was requested by the Governor Pat McCrory however law makers have only given an extra million dollars, for now, to start fixing the broken system. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says it needs a total of 6 million dollars added to the budget each year to renovate crumbling autopsy centers, add new autopsy centers and regional offices, add more full-time investigators, training, and an increase pay to facilities and medical examiners. It is estimated that a total of $35-40 million dollars is required to implement all of the fixes recommended by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
I agree with it taking time, but as more time goes by, more mistakes are being made costing the state and families of victims. Families are unable to collect money and answers and some have sued the state for sloppy work conducted by the medical examiners. Allotting more money to them would help prevent some of the law suits and give families a peace of mind at the same time. While more money cannot be allotted at this time due to budgets not being there, the state can withhold the medical examiners fee until they complete all necessary steps to the investigation providing motivation to do their job correctly.
To see recommendations made by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to fix the medical examiner system click here
Medical Examiners
The medical examiners are not viewing crime scenes and not viewing bodies because they have conflicts and the fee for the autopsy was too low before the reform. Most of the medical examiners hired by the state have a career as doctors and perform the duties of a medical examiner between their shifts. They simply do not have time to drive out to crime scenes and perform the autopsies and reports to the standard required. Also, the fee before the reform was too low. Medical examiners were losing most of the $100 fee to travel expenses to view the crime scene.
Raising the fee from $100 to $250 provides more money for travel expenses and allows medical examiners to make enough money for it to be worth a drive to the crime scene. However, the medical examiners have been able to collect the $100 without viewing the crime scene and sometimes without viewing the bodies. This is why a system of checks needs to be put in place to prevent the medical examiner from continuing their bad habits.
The State
The medical examiner system does not have the required budget in order to implement reform. An extra four million dollars was requested by the Governor Pat McCrory however law makers have only given an extra million dollars, for now, to start fixing the broken system. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says it needs a total of 6 million dollars added to the budget each year to renovate crumbling autopsy centers, add new autopsy centers and regional offices, add more full-time investigators, training, and an increase pay to facilities and medical examiners. It is estimated that a total of $35-40 million dollars is required to implement all of the fixes recommended by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
I agree with it taking time, but as more time goes by, more mistakes are being made costing the state and families of victims. Families are unable to collect money and answers and some have sued the state for sloppy work conducted by the medical examiners. Allotting more money to them would help prevent some of the law suits and give families a peace of mind at the same time. While more money cannot be allotted at this time due to budgets not being there, the state can withhold the medical examiners fee until they complete all necessary steps to the investigation providing motivation to do their job correctly.
To see recommendations made by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to fix the medical examiner system click here