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August 30, 2008

Delays in autopsy reports hard on families, investigators

By Kim Sloan

A loved one’s death is difficult for any family. But add the stress of waiting for an autopsy to be performed, and it’s disturbing, said Whitfield County Coroner Bobbie Dixon.

On July 30, the medical examiner left the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab in Summerville. Due to budget cuts ordered by Gov. Sonny Perdue, the lab will be closed.

All autopsies in Whitfield County are now sent to the crime lab in Atlanta for autopsy. Instead of waiting one day, families are waiting two to three days before an autopsy is completed and the funeral can be held, Dixon said.

“It’s hard on the families,” Dixon said. “It’s disturbing to the families and to me also.”

Autopsies are required for any death that is an accident, suicide, homicide or a death unattended by a doctor, she said.

State Sen. Don Thomas said he has received calls about the delays, but legislators, who do not return to Atlanta until January 2009, cannot do anything about Perdue’s cuts this summer. But Thomas said the cuts are needed and the public does not realize just “how deep of a recession we are in.”

“I think the governor is doing his best to where it hurts the least,” Thomas said. “It’s a cost-saving situation.”

“We don’t have any oversight in it,” said state Rep. Roger Williams. “It’s a painful thing but we are going to have to go along with it.”

The forensics lab in Summerville, which handles drug and blood testing, is still open, said John Bankhead, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. No additional cuts are planned for Summerville but crime labs in Moultrie and Columbus are scheduled to be closed as part of the 2010 budget, Bankhead said.

“We’re being cut 6 to 10 percent like all agencies,” he said.

Bankhead said the agency has cut $4.2 million out of its budget.

Dixon said the delays hurt investigations into causes of death, which must be listed on a death certificate. She said at least two bodies are sent to the crime lab each month and that number can be much higher at times.

“When you are working trying to find a cause of death and you can catch a criminal if you have the evidence immediately,” she said. “If we don’t have the evidence, the suspect may get away.”

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