Tulsa World: Under the microscope

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Under the microscope
Oklahoma's Medical Examiner's office faces a new challenge

By JULIE DELCOUR Associate Editor
Published: 7/5/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 7/5/2009 3:56 AM

If Oklahoma's Office of Chief Medical Examiner ceases to exist in its present form, a self-inflicted shot in the foot should go down as the official cause of death.

Thanks to a string of missteps, allegations of misconduct and misguided former leadership, the agency has stayed under the public microscope for months. The ME's office, which began in 1962 as the state Office of Unexplained Deaths, for decades enjoyed an unblemished reputation. Not any more. As of last week officials suddenly were trying to explain why the agency had lost its accreditation.

Those explanations fell to an unlucky Dr. Collie M. Trant, who inherited a mess when he became chief medical examiner in May. Trant blames the failing grade on underfunding, low staffing levels, poor equipment and facilities.

Complaints over such problems were voiced by her predecessors. A well-regarded Dr. Fred Jordan, who saw the agency through the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, eventually gave up on getting sufficient funding and moved on. His successor, the controversial Dr. Jeffery Gofton, received a $50,000 raise and a $1 million appropriation from the Legislature in 2007. But Gofton resigned in June 2008 after a series of controversies, including an unpopular proposal — which failed — to end autopsies in the Tulsa branch of the ME's office. That move would have inconvenienced half the state.

For nearly two years, the agency's reputation has suffered death by a thousand cuts, including a request by the attorney general's office for an investigative audit amid claims ME personnel were working for an organ-sharing network on state time. An investigation is under way by a multicounty grand jury into agency conditions and potential wrongdoing by a former employee.

During the 2008 legislative session, frustrated lawmakers threatened to fold the office into the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and last session came close to passing another plan to overhaul the operation.

Meanwhile, a state audit revealed poor handling of records and insufficient background checks on employees hired to handle money or checks. In May, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wages and Hours Division opened an investigation involving the ME's branch office in Tulsa.

Problems and more problems.

In March, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, lamented that the ME's office "has been floundering in a dysfunctional morass for some time." He introduced a bill to "significantly restructure the ME operation, bringing long overdue professional management to the office, and providing for greater accountability."

Coffee's measure called for the ME's office to be renamed and to be headed by a professional administrator appointed by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation. The bill also would have created a new governing board —not a bad idea given the apparent lack of oversight the office has received.

The measure never came to a vote but lawmakers could pull the trigger next session; Coffee's still head of the Senate and the ME's office appears ripe for a takeover or reinvention given the accreditation problem.

Trant said last week that a lack of appreciation exists for the problems the agency faces and how they should be remedied. He pointed out that the accreditation inspector from the National Association of Medical Examiners found no fault with death investigations and autopsy pathology. He, in fact, praised a "dedicated staff" for performing good work despite deficiencies.

The bottom line, however, is that the agency isn't accredited, which could matter to the law enforcement community. ME staff shouldn't have to work under adversity. Deficiencies — another way of saying the office isn't up to standards — must be fixed. That will take time and money. To acquire both and preserve his agency's autonomy, Trant must win back the Legislature's confidence, if it's not too late.

As long as it does its job, the public might pay little attention to whether the ME's office stands alone or is part of another agency. It may never notice if the office continues to go by its present name, becomes CSI Oklahoma or is renamed the Oklahoma Department of Forensic Sciences, as Coffee suggested.

What Oklahomans expect is efficiency and minimal delays from an accredited agency that does not have a standing date with controversy.

Julie DelCour, 581-8379
julie.delcour@tulsaworld.com By JULIE DELCOUR Associate Editor

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	Report Comment tulsan09, Tulsa (7/5/2009 10:07:20 AM) Yeah, we sure need a bunch of unresponsive bureacrats in OKC "re-inventing" the ME's office. Why don't they just fund it properly and leave it alone? We don't need bureacrats creating yet another bureacracy. Senator Coffee needs to stay out of this before he makes it even worse.
	Report Comment Bullhead, Nicut (7/5/2009 3:38:58 PM) I am so surprised there are not national regulations that must be in place in every ME's office. Wow! This is not right. The AMA should be in charge of this or someone with knowledge of medicine and pathology!

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