Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 13:01:59 GMT -5
County fires its forensic pathologists----Autopsy provider's contract
canceled; future plans unclear
The Marion County coroner's office has canceled its contract with a
private practice of forensic pathologists that conducts autopsies in
homicides and other suspicious-death cases.
Coroner Kenneth Ackles terminated the five-year contract in June, about 8
months after signing it. The effective contract termination date is Dec.
19. Ackles declined to give a reason for his action, or to detail what he
intends to do next. The firm's three doctors, with help from 3 or 4
assistants, perform more than 1,000 autopsies per year and less-thorough
examinations of nearly as many bodies.
The Marion County contract paid the firm $858,000 in its 1st year and was
expected to increase about $25,000 each year.
Dr. Stephen Radentz, a partner in the practice, said the county has given
little indication of whether it wants to hire a replacement firm or simply
renegotiate its contract with the 3-doctor firm.
The uncertainty already has caused one partner in the firm to take a new
job as a medical examiner in Iowa in mid-September.
Radentz said Ackles' move threatens to leave the county with a morgue
piling up with bodies and unfinished cases after a summer filled with
homicides. As of Friday, the county had seen 96 homicides this year,
putting 2006 on a pace to be the deadliest year since 1998.
Radentz speculated the cancellation was part of a bid by the city to force
the firm's employees to become county employees.
In Indiana, coroners are elected. Theirs is a part-time position that
requires no medical training. Ackles, a chiropractor who took over the
coroner's office in 2005, signs death certificates, while his deputies,
numbering about 20, perform death-scene investigations.
Forensic pathologists are doctors who perform autopsies to determine the
cause of death and help prosecutors build evidence of a crime.
Without elaborating, Ackles indicated the work of the coroner's office
would go on uninterrupted despite the cancellation of the contract.
"There's always provisions to represent the citizens of Marion County," he
said. "The office will be maintained to the utmost in reference to the
citizens, and everything is in place."
But experts said forensic pathologists are in short supply, so finding and
hiring them can take months. Only a few hundred such doctors practice in
the country, about a dozen in Indiana, according to the National
Association of Medical Examiners.
Dr. Toni Laskey, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana
University and Riley Hospital for Children, said an autopsy by a forensic
pathologist is crucial to understanding or prosecuting a child's death.
Laskey, who sits on the state's recently created fatality review team for
children, said the group has a good relationship with Radentz' firm. She
said the firm performs autopsies when foul play is suspected for more than
20 counties in Central Indiana.
"If they leave, it will be devastating," Laskey said.
While Ackles would not provide details about the situation in his office,
City Controller Bob Clifford said Ackles expressed objections about the
firm's billing practices to him.
Clifford said Ackles balked at the firm's use of Marion County space and
supplies to conduct out-of-county autopsies that it then charged those
counties to perform. He said Ackles didn't like that the firm charged the
prosecutor's office for its doctors' testimony.
Radentz said the firm charges $800 for out-of-county autopsies, and that
it performs about 225 such autopsies a year. Without that income, it would
have to charge Marion County more, he said. Its 3 doctors each make about
$150,000 a year, he said.
Radentz had been recruited to the pathology department at Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis to do autopsies during the term
of former Coroner John McGoff. Radentz started his own company to provide
those services after IUPUI last fall opted to stop doing so.
McGoff, who helped hire Radentz and worked with him as coroner, said it
would be difficult to find a more qualified forensic pathologist team for
less money. "Forensic pathology is the cornerstone of the coroner's
office," McGoff said.
(source: Indianapolis Star)
canceled; future plans unclear
The Marion County coroner's office has canceled its contract with a
private practice of forensic pathologists that conducts autopsies in
homicides and other suspicious-death cases.
Coroner Kenneth Ackles terminated the five-year contract in June, about 8
months after signing it. The effective contract termination date is Dec.
19. Ackles declined to give a reason for his action, or to detail what he
intends to do next. The firm's three doctors, with help from 3 or 4
assistants, perform more than 1,000 autopsies per year and less-thorough
examinations of nearly as many bodies.
The Marion County contract paid the firm $858,000 in its 1st year and was
expected to increase about $25,000 each year.
Dr. Stephen Radentz, a partner in the practice, said the county has given
little indication of whether it wants to hire a replacement firm or simply
renegotiate its contract with the 3-doctor firm.
The uncertainty already has caused one partner in the firm to take a new
job as a medical examiner in Iowa in mid-September.
Radentz said Ackles' move threatens to leave the county with a morgue
piling up with bodies and unfinished cases after a summer filled with
homicides. As of Friday, the county had seen 96 homicides this year,
putting 2006 on a pace to be the deadliest year since 1998.
Radentz speculated the cancellation was part of a bid by the city to force
the firm's employees to become county employees.
In Indiana, coroners are elected. Theirs is a part-time position that
requires no medical training. Ackles, a chiropractor who took over the
coroner's office in 2005, signs death certificates, while his deputies,
numbering about 20, perform death-scene investigations.
Forensic pathologists are doctors who perform autopsies to determine the
cause of death and help prosecutors build evidence of a crime.
Without elaborating, Ackles indicated the work of the coroner's office
would go on uninterrupted despite the cancellation of the contract.
"There's always provisions to represent the citizens of Marion County," he
said. "The office will be maintained to the utmost in reference to the
citizens, and everything is in place."
But experts said forensic pathologists are in short supply, so finding and
hiring them can take months. Only a few hundred such doctors practice in
the country, about a dozen in Indiana, according to the National
Association of Medical Examiners.
Dr. Toni Laskey, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana
University and Riley Hospital for Children, said an autopsy by a forensic
pathologist is crucial to understanding or prosecuting a child's death.
Laskey, who sits on the state's recently created fatality review team for
children, said the group has a good relationship with Radentz' firm. She
said the firm performs autopsies when foul play is suspected for more than
20 counties in Central Indiana.
"If they leave, it will be devastating," Laskey said.
While Ackles would not provide details about the situation in his office,
City Controller Bob Clifford said Ackles expressed objections about the
firm's billing practices to him.
Clifford said Ackles balked at the firm's use of Marion County space and
supplies to conduct out-of-county autopsies that it then charged those
counties to perform. He said Ackles didn't like that the firm charged the
prosecutor's office for its doctors' testimony.
Radentz said the firm charges $800 for out-of-county autopsies, and that
it performs about 225 such autopsies a year. Without that income, it would
have to charge Marion County more, he said. Its 3 doctors each make about
$150,000 a year, he said.
Radentz had been recruited to the pathology department at Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis to do autopsies during the term
of former Coroner John McGoff. Radentz started his own company to provide
those services after IUPUI last fall opted to stop doing so.
McGoff, who helped hire Radentz and worked with him as coroner, said it
would be difficult to find a more qualified forensic pathologist team for
less money. "Forensic pathology is the cornerstone of the coroner's
office," McGoff said.
(source: Indianapolis Star)