By Carmen George
The Fresno Bee; November 15, 2013 Updated 18 hours ago
The Fresno Bee; November 15, 2013 Updated 18 hours ago
Recent talk about eliminating the Fresno County coroner/public administrator position by combining it with the Sheriff's Office got a strong push-back this week from the county grand jury, which says the coroner should be a medical doctor.
Thursday's grand jury report comes a little more than a week after the Board of Supervisors voted to explore combining coroner duties with the sheriff's office. Supervisors also talked about splitting up the duties -- giving coroner responsibilities to the sheriff, and public administrator duties to the district attorney.
The county's coroner/public administrator has made clear his opposition to the proposal.
"There's a huge difference in training between someone who carries a gun and someone who carries a scalpel," said Dr. David Hadden, who's served in the position for more than 30 years. "I don't hear anyone say, 'Dr. Hadden should be the sheriff.' It's ridiculous."
So when advocates say the sheriff should be the coroner, Hadden said, that should seem equally ridiculous.
The future of the position will be decided at the Dec. 3 supervisors meeting, said board chairman Henry Perea, who voted against exploring the merger.
Perea said the board-driven proposal was "spontaneous" and without study, and Hadden and Sheriff Margaret Mims were not even alerted about the subject beforehand.
"If this was a front-burner issue for the county, they should have been told about it a year ago," he said.
Although the grand jury rejected handing the coroner's job to the sheriff's office, the panel did recommend some changes:
Following the end of the term of the coroner elected in 2014, it should no longer be an elected position. A medical examiner should be appointed to serve as coroner, who would report to the supervisors.
Until the medical examiner model is implemented, public administrator duties should remain with the coroner's office.
To run for the position of coroner, a candidate should be a doctor.
Perea is asking county staff to gather data about coroner costs, but said he believes it will cost the county more if the responsibilities are handed off to the sheriff.
"The sheriff is not going to do it for free," Perea said. "We have a hard enough time keeping people in jail; now we are going to make (Mims) be a coroner? It can also create a horrible perception of a conflict of interest that can be bad. I think our community deserves better."
Chief forensic pathologist Dr. Venu Gopal, who's worked for Hadden for more than 20 years, said he agrees with the grand jury findings.
"The majority of the (coroner) cases are medically related, so someone with medical knowledge is better suited than a non-medical person," Gopal said.
From the beginning of the year through Sept. 30, more than 2,600 cases were referred to the county coroner's office. On average, the office does up to 800 autopsies and external evaluations a year, he said.
Most of the country uses a medical evaluator system, Gopal said, along with almost all major cities.
As home to one of California's largest cities, Fresno County should also adopt the same model, he said.
Hadden said public administrator duties -- dealing with estates and property when no one is around to manage them, such as after an elderly person dies -- is also a natural fit for his office, because those affected often have already been in contact with the coroner.
Hadden said it's important a coroner be able to "speak the same language" as doctors doing work within the office, because the coroner makes the ultimate decision about what goes on a death certificate.
He said he heard of a case where a lay coroner said someone was poisoned, although the pathologist, who studied the body, disagreed.
"That put a father with four kids in jeopardy of being charged with homicide, so it has intense personal consequences for the accused, and they deserve absolutely the best this county can give,"
Hadden said. "The reason a lot of smaller counties have sheriff-coroner systems is because they can't afford anything else ... It's an old-fashioned model going back years, way back to the 19th century.
"Just because it's prevalent doesn't mean it's correct. We have moved on."
Thursday's grand jury report comes a little more than a week after the Board of Supervisors voted to explore combining coroner duties with the sheriff's office. Supervisors also talked about splitting up the duties -- giving coroner responsibilities to the sheriff, and public administrator duties to the district attorney.
The county's coroner/public administrator has made clear his opposition to the proposal.
"There's a huge difference in training between someone who carries a gun and someone who carries a scalpel," said Dr. David Hadden, who's served in the position for more than 30 years. "I don't hear anyone say, 'Dr. Hadden should be the sheriff.' It's ridiculous."
So when advocates say the sheriff should be the coroner, Hadden said, that should seem equally ridiculous.
The future of the position will be decided at the Dec. 3 supervisors meeting, said board chairman Henry Perea, who voted against exploring the merger.
Perea said the board-driven proposal was "spontaneous" and without study, and Hadden and Sheriff Margaret Mims were not even alerted about the subject beforehand.
"If this was a front-burner issue for the county, they should have been told about it a year ago," he said.
Although the grand jury rejected handing the coroner's job to the sheriff's office, the panel did recommend some changes:
Following the end of the term of the coroner elected in 2014, it should no longer be an elected position. A medical examiner should be appointed to serve as coroner, who would report to the supervisors.
Until the medical examiner model is implemented, public administrator duties should remain with the coroner's office.
To run for the position of coroner, a candidate should be a doctor.
Perea is asking county staff to gather data about coroner costs, but said he believes it will cost the county more if the responsibilities are handed off to the sheriff.
"The sheriff is not going to do it for free," Perea said. "We have a hard enough time keeping people in jail; now we are going to make (Mims) be a coroner? It can also create a horrible perception of a conflict of interest that can be bad. I think our community deserves better."
Chief forensic pathologist Dr. Venu Gopal, who's worked for Hadden for more than 20 years, said he agrees with the grand jury findings.
"The majority of the (coroner) cases are medically related, so someone with medical knowledge is better suited than a non-medical person," Gopal said.
From the beginning of the year through Sept. 30, more than 2,600 cases were referred to the county coroner's office. On average, the office does up to 800 autopsies and external evaluations a year, he said.
Most of the country uses a medical evaluator system, Gopal said, along with almost all major cities.
As home to one of California's largest cities, Fresno County should also adopt the same model, he said.
Hadden said public administrator duties -- dealing with estates and property when no one is around to manage them, such as after an elderly person dies -- is also a natural fit for his office, because those affected often have already been in contact with the coroner.
Hadden said it's important a coroner be able to "speak the same language" as doctors doing work within the office, because the coroner makes the ultimate decision about what goes on a death certificate.
He said he heard of a case where a lay coroner said someone was poisoned, although the pathologist, who studied the body, disagreed.
"That put a father with four kids in jeopardy of being charged with homicide, so it has intense personal consequences for the accused, and they deserve absolutely the best this county can give,"
Hadden said. "The reason a lot of smaller counties have sheriff-coroner systems is because they can't afford anything else ... It's an old-fashioned model going back years, way back to the 19th century.
"Just because it's prevalent doesn't mean it's correct. We have moved on."
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