CHICAGO (AP) - The Cook County medical examiner’s office - which once garnered headlines for allowing bodies to pile up and get tossed into boxes - has made changes that county officials say could lead to the office becoming a national model.
Since taking over in 2012, and seeing an increase in funding from the county, chief medical examiner Dr. Stephen Cina has hired more doctors and made technological improvements, according to a story published in the Chicago Sun-Times (https://bit.ly/1J5FjIa ).
Among the results are an increased number of autopsies, which Cina says could lead to better criminal investigations for police. The agency once performed autopsies on less than half of the roughly 5,000 bodies that arrive there each year. That’s increased to roughly 63 percent since 2012 and Cina says his goal is to get to 70 percent.
Cina replaced Dr. Nancy Jones, who announced her retirement following accounts of bodies stacking up and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s announced intention to overhaul the office, which had also lost its accreditation.
The agency has since added a computerized case-management system to replace paper logbooks. There are now more doctors: 14 currently, up from six when he arrived. There are also plans for filling fellowship positions at the agency.
“Once we fully staff out and once we integrate a few more things, we will be the best place in the country,” Cina told the newspaper.
Preckwinkle said she’s been pleased with the results, including getting provisional accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners.
“We brought Dr. Cina to Cook County to help turn around an office that had been in crisis. Thanks to his leadership and the hard work of his team, we are well on our way to making the medical examiner’s office a national model,” she said.
Cina is a former U.S. Air Force major who has been a deputy chief medical examiner for Broward County in Florida, and the medical examiner for Weld County in Colorado.
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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, https://chicago.suntimes.com/
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