Ogden • State medical examiners in Utah have an autopsy caseload that's twice the recommended maximum, but the state still has a months-long delay in death investigations — and that's slowing homicide investigations, insurance payouts and organ donations.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Erik Christensen said Monday that despite exceeding the recommended annual maximum workload of 325 death cases per pathologist, his office still has a massive backlog, The Standard-Examiner reported.
When Christensen joined the examiner's office in 2008, the agency handled 1,900 cases annually. The total will top 3,100 this year.
"I've done 520 cases already this year," Christensen said.
Christensen said Utah's high population growth rate combined with a high rate of suicide and drug overdose deaths make it nearly impossible to keep up with death investigations at his current staffing levels.
This year, the Utah Legislature increased the office's budget by 25 percent, funding more pathologists and bringing the staff up to eight, but Christensen says it's still not enough.
Homicide investigators waiting on the examiner's office say they're resigned to the issue.
"It's an understood situation," Dale Ward, Box Elder County chief deputy sheriff, said when asked about the Medical Examiner's Office. "Those guys are eyes deep in dead bodies, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Box Elder County recently was able to close the case of the death of a jail inmate about 10 months after the death. The wait was longer than usual, but Ward said that's because there were additional tests requested after the initial results came back.
"Unfortunately, it is what it is," Ward said. "Very candidly, I'm not going to throw them under the bus. They are encountering exactly the same thing we are encountering in law enforcement — lack of personnel and the wages they pay."
The long waits can hold up more than just paperwork.
"They can remain open for six, seven, eight months. And when there's a questionable death, the families want the answers," said Lt. Tim Scott, who leads investigations for the Ogden Police Department.
Christensen said until the state rules on a death, families cannot receive insurance payments, pay mortuary bills or sell property. For families that have consented to tissue donation, processing agencies require a final report on deaths before issuing the tissue. Sometimes the donor tissue can expire before investigations are complete.
Christensen said his office tries to prioritize, but the number of cases coming through the office gets in the way.
"I have multiple homicide files sitting in my desk," he said. "I just need time to finish the reports."
