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The Tennessean Stability in troubled office It should be a matter of course that the city has a well-run medical examiner's office. But anyone who has followed the recent history of the Metro medical examiner's
office knows just how significant it is that the city currently operates
with an efficient, cost-effective system of performing autopsies. A Brentwood firm, Associated Pathologists, which was chosen last April to contract with Metro to perform the duties, reported a savings of $186,000 and is completing autopsies in a much more timely fashion than the city was getting before. Should those savings be maintained through the end of the current budget year, the money would go back into the city's general fund. Metro chose Associated Pathologists last year as a desperate measure to clean up the troubled medical examiner's operation. The move came with some dissent from the Metro Council, as members complained that the city was more than doubling the office's budget from $1 million to $2.2 million. The contract was approved by a 23-15 vote. But the office had been in dire straits, and a drastic move was necessary. Metro's office had become in such disarray that it couldn't hold on to a medical examiner. There were charges of political bickering. The city was flying in a pathologist from another state at great expense to perform autopsies. The problems resulted in delays of autopsies which led to delays in funerals and delays in getting valuable information to local prosecutors. The situation was so bad that Nashville had developed a reputation as a place to avoid among pathologists. The city had to act. Now, the move is paying off. The savings represent a nice plus, but the best news about the office now is its stability. The firm has closed all the incomplete cases it inherited and is getting autopsies done in an average of two weeks, where it could have been many weeks in the past. The troubles at the medical examiner's office created a lot of headaches
for the city. The council was right to step up and make a responsible
decision last year. Recent results indicate the city made the right call. |
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