Shoddy investigations by NC medical examiners leave families in pain

[WorseBeforeBetter]

By The Charlotte Observer
May 17, 2014 Updated 17 hours ago

Medical examiners in North Carolina often fail to follow crucial investigative steps, raising questions about thousands of death rulings, a Charlotte Observer investigation has found.

The living face the consequences of those failures. Widows can be cheated out of insurance money. Families may never learn why their loved ones died. Killers can go free.

“Fatally Flawed” is a five-part series on the Observer’s investigation, which began in 2012. In today’s first installment, Observer reporters describe how the system is supposed to work, where it goes wrong, and how some people’s lives have been affected.

Read today’s story and see videos, profiles, data and other extras.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/17/3868989/shoddy-investigations-by-nc-medical.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

‘Operating on the cheap’

The average state medical examiner system spends $1.76 per capita on its death investigation system, according to a 2007 survey by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME).

Last year, North Carolina spent less than half that – about 84 cents per capita.

Told how much the state spends, Dr. Vincent DiMaio laughed. Bexar County, Texas, where he once served as chief medical examiner, spends more than $2.30 per capita.

“You get what you pay for,” said DiMaio, a nationally recognized pathologist who heads the Texas Forensic Science Commission. “ … You're operating on the cheap.”

Fatally Flawed

[barbtries]

1. this is a big story

i hope it leads to big changes. what a shame.

[littlewolf]

2. you get what you pay for indeed ...

would love to see this go national and force some
changes.