Big changes are on the way for the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The office, currently an independent contractor with limited staff, will be brought under the control of the county, beefing up needed resources.
Whatcom County is one of the only counties in Washington state to contract with an outside medical examiner’s office run by a licensed physician who performs autopsies and oversees death investigations.
An estimated $1.2 million is budgeted for the transition, which will bring in six staff members including those already in the office, a challenge in a field riddled with vacancies. The need is growing. County Medical Examiner Allison Hunt told county council members April 9 that she needed more death investigators to handle the caseload her office sees.
“We investigated 726 deaths last year. According to standards, per 100 death investigations, I should have seven full-time investigators,” she said. “I have one.”
The physical office is also undergoing a renovation at its 1500 State St. facility and the office must become accredited by 2025, according to state law.
Then-Whatcom County Deputy Executive Tyler Schroeder told council members April 23 he’s hoping the resolution to add the office and its accompanying positions would be ready by the beginning of May in time for the county to start recruiting staff.
County council will discuss the resolution at its Tuesday, May 21 meeting.
The job positions prepared by county human resources include a full-time operations manager, autopsy technician and three death investigators. Current staff in those roles will follow the office when it’s brought under the county’s control. Funding was also set aside for part-time staffing positions, including an on-call investigator, autopsy technician and family liaison.
“This transition will help retain trained investigators and staff in a profession where recruitment is in high demand,” according to a March 28 memo from Schroeder and Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu.
Hunt was hired to lead the office in 2022. By 2023, after 30 years as an outside contractor, Whatcom County officials started the process of transitioning Hunt’s office into a county position.
Currently, the office has five on-call death investigators, and one full-time and one part-time pathology staff member, according to Deborah Hollis, the operations manager.
Medical examiners are trained physicians qualified to perform forensic investigations into unexpected, violent, suspicious or unnatural deaths. Coroners are elected and often do not have professional medical training. They can be aided by a forensic pathologist’s investigation.
The benefits of becoming part of the county are numerous for the medical examiner’s office; for instance, the county will have better ownership over medical examiner records, according to the memo.
Additionally, the county will be able to apply for grant funding on the ME’s behalf. Previously, in 2023, the ME’s office was able to successfully receive funding for a portable X-ray machine, saving the office and county $25,000, according to the memo. But, by having the county take responsibility for grants, there’s a higher likelihood of success in securing funding.
Accreditation of the office also ensures Hunt and her staff are following county, state and federal law, said consultant P. Michael Murphy, a retired Nevada coroner, who presented to county council on April 23.
In Skagit County, the office is led by a coroner, Hayley Thompson. It became accredited in February by the International Association of Coroners & Medical Examiners (IACME) after it was subjected to a review of 288 standards. Thompson, who was elected coroner in 2016, made the necessary changes to the office, including hiring death investigators and creating a facility to provide all services for the office, over seven years.
Thompson is also a board of director member of IACME.
A state law passed in 2021, sponsored by Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Skagit Valley, places stricter requirements on medical examiner and coroner offices across the state, such as making sure full-time staff, including the medical examiner or coroner, complete training within a year and part-time staff complete the same training within 18 months.
The Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office is seeking accreditation from IACME by the state law’s deadline and must answer a series of questions regarding the facility’s space, annual reporting requirements, mass fatality planning and more.
Murphy also touched on the importance of having a medical examiner’s office within the county, from having more control over the office to ensuring stability in a field where there’s a growing vacancy of positions.
Counties in Wyoming, for example, do not have a medical examiner in the state requiring them to contract with medical examiner and coroner offices in Colorado and Nebraska, Murphy said.
Murphy said 1,800 medical examiners and forensic pathologists are needed in the U.S. right now and about 30 are replaced every year through training programs.
“There is a huge shortage,” he added. “The fact that you even have a medical examiner in your community I would consider to be extremely important.”
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
