Connecticut Office of Medical Examiner Likely to Lose Full Accreditation

The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will lose its full accreditation through the National Association of Medical Examiners due to staffing shortages.

The office will have an on-site inspection in January 2017 and anticipates to lose accreditation, said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Gill.

“The OCME faces many challenges related to inadequate funding and insufficient staffing," said Barbara Wolf, chair of inspection and accreditation committee for NAME. "Most notably, there are insufficient numbers of forensic pathologists, medicolegal death investigators, and clerical personnel for the volume of cases in Connecticut.”

Wolf note that not completing postmortem investigations in a timely manner can delay homicide investigations, delay families from getting insurance money and donor tissues can't be delivered to patients in a timely manner.

Review of data shows that each forensic pathologist performs more than 325 autopsies per year, which will result in a deficiency under accreditation rules. Deficiencies are compounded by an insufficient number of medicolegal death investigators and clerical personnel.

In 2010 each pathologist performed an average of 276 autopsies per year and the chief medical examiner took a 50 percent case load in order to deal with the administrative functions of being head of the office.

There are seven pathologists currently in the office and Gill has taken a full case load.

"Unfortunately, without resources, event the best pathologists cannot fulfill their office's mission appropriately, which will result in sub-optimal service for the citizens of Connecticut," Wolf said.