ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A grieving mother's heart-wrenching interview with WUSA9 has sharpened focus on problems at Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner where a backlog of as many as 200 bodies awaiting autopsies is delaying closure for families.
Wednesday a legislator charged with oversight warned that the Medical Examiner could lose national accreditation and criminal cases could be ruined if the problems are not solved soon.
“It's incredibly sad to have to have a family member in that situation,” said Maryland Delegate Kirill Reznik (D- Montgomery County), after reviewing an interview with Delores Shannon of Colonial Beach Virginia.
Shannon said she still hasn’t seen the body of her daughter Angel Brand, who died of a suspected fentanyl overdose in Maryland on February 11. Brand's body is still waiting for an autopsy from the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).
“It breaks my heart because I just want to put her to rest so I can try to cope with what I'm going through,” Shannon cried.
Bodies are now being stored temporarily in refrigerated trucks parked in a Baltimore garage because of the backlog of remains waiting for autopsies, according to the State’s Health Department.
“For the last five, six years, you know, we've identified there's a problem. There's a staffing issue. There's a morale issue," Reznik said.
Reznik says a jump in deaths from overdoses, crime and COVID is part of the equation, but that the OCME has also been understaffed for years, putting accreditation by the National Association of Medical Examiners at risk.
"If they lose their accreditation, the judgment of that medical examiner in court then comes into question," Reznik pointed out.
"A defense attorney can easily come in and say is your office accredited? The answer's no. Then it becomes very easy for that defense attorney to raise doubt about that autopsy in the forensic examination that followed. So maintaining that accreditation is critical to making sure that that justice is sought.”
Accreditation could be suspended when a medical examiner's office sees workloads exceeding 325 autopsies per doctor annually, according to Dr. Kathryn Pinneri, the President of the National Association of Medical Examiners.
Maryland exceeds that threshold because of the staff shortage Reznik said.
Dr. Pinneri said Maryland currently holds full accreditation. But she pointed out that all offices have to self-report annually.
"I would expect that the current situation, if uncorrected at the time the annual report is due, would result in a demotion to provisional status," Pinneri said.
"The situation in Maryland is happening in other offices across the country. Forensic pathologists are experiencing a severe workforce shortage," Pinneri reported.
Friday, Maryland's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Victor Weedn abruptly resigned.
A new interim chief, Dr. Pamela Southall took over Monday.
“I wouldn't want to have her job," Reznik said. "To be honest. She has a very daunting challenge in front of her.”
Reznik is sponsoring legislation that would force the state to hire and retain enough medical examiners to maintain accreditation. Health Department authorities could not tell WUSA9 when the body of Angel Brand might be sent home to Virginia.
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