NC leaders: Don’t wait to fix medical examiner problems

State lawmakers are promising swift action to fix North Carolina’s broken system for investigating suspicious deaths.

“It’s time to stop studying and fix it,” said State Sen. Jeff Tarte, a Mecklenburg County Republican who co-chairs a legislative committee examining ways to improve the system. “The residents of the state deserve no less.”

Legislators on the special committee don’t want to wait for an independent legislative research unit to finish a study next year before producing proposals that would provide more investigators, training and money.

Tarte and two other committee members said they expect to see new legislation when the General Assembly convenes in January.

But overhauling North Carolina’s medical examiner’s office won’t be cheap, and it won’t be politically simple. At a hearing last week, administrators laid out a list of needs that tops $50 million.

And it isn’t the first time state lawmakers have vowed to fix the system. A 2001 effort produced recommendations, but few reforms.

“It’s not politically sexy …,” said Lanier Cansler, former secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the medical examiner system. “They want to say, ‘I gave more money to education, health care.’ When was the last time in a political speech have you heard anybody talking about the medical examiner’s office?”

Promises made

For years, the medical examiner’s office has been hobbled by a lack of money and investigators who skip basic steps when they are supposed to examine homicides, drownings and other unnatural deaths.

An Observer series published in May found that medical examiners don’t go to death scenes in 90 percent of their cases. They violate a requirement to view the bodies in 1 of every 9 deaths.

Botched investigations can lead to inaccurate death rulings, which in turn weaken criminal investigations and leave grieving families without insurance payments they deserve.

After the newspaper series, Gov. Pat McCrory and lawmakers pledged to make major changes. The General Assembly asked its Program Evaluation Division to examine ways to strengthen investigations. Researchers expect to finish their work by early 2015.

Legislators also approved an extra $1 million for the medical examiner’s office – but that was only half of what McCrory requested.

Most medical examiners are doctors and nurses who perform investigations during their off-hours. They receive $100 per case, which experts say provides scant incentive to travel to a death scene.

State Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly County, said lawmakers realize they need to act urgently.

“We know their problems. …,” said Burr, a member of the legislative panel studying medical examiners. “It’s too important to let sit for another year.”

Burr said he supports hiring full-time investigators, as many leading state systems do. He cited the state’s failings after an elderly couple died in a Boone hotel room in April 2013. The medical examiner did not warn the state toxicology lab in Raleigh about the circumstances, and it took officials six weeks to determine that carbon monoxide killed the couple.

Even then, no one warned the public before carbon monoxide leaked into the room again in June 2013, killing 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams.

Professional investigators “could have saved that little boy’s life,” Burr said.

Who’s to blame?

With the extra $1 million lawmakers added this year, North Carolina spends about 93 cents per capita on death investigations. That’s much less than most states. A 2007 study found that the average state medical examiner system spent $1.76 per capita.

State Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union County, said the added $1 million this year is proof lawmakers are willing to spend money for urgent improvements.

Tucker credited the Observer with bringing the issue to lawmakers’ attention. He said state administrators might have been reluctant to approach legislators for money since the state has been cash-strapped in recent years.

Cansler, the DHHS secretary from 2009 to 2012 under Gov. Bev Perdue, said lawmakers constantly asked for budget cuts. That meant the medical examiner’s office suffered.

“We wait until a crisis instead of moving ahead of the curve,” said Cansler, who also served in the General Assembly. “It’s not something you win campaigns with. It’s not something people will think about until you need it.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2014 at 4:04 PM with the headline "NC leaders: Don’t wait to fix medical examiner problems."