Starke County’s coroner says out-of-county autopsies are causing a big strain on his budget. Now, county officials may be looking to state lawmakers to help ease that burden.
Coroner Dannie Hoffer told the county council Monday he’s expecting to get some bills for autopsies of Starke County residents who died outside the county. When people are taken to hospitals in places like South Bend or Fort Wayne, it’s up to the local coroner’s office to conduct any necessary autopsies, if they die there. But state law requires the county of origin to reimburse them for the cost.
The problem, according to Hoffer, is that an autopsy in St. Joseph County often costs twice as much as one done in Starke County. “They take them up to Michigan, and we have to pay for a transfer fee,” he explained. “We have to pay for an expensive doctor, housing, hospital, all that stuff. Do I agree with that? I’ve talked to him before. I don’t agree with it because I can get them done a lot cheaper, but by law, I can’t bring them back to Starke County and then autopsy them. It has to be done in the county that they died in.” Hoffer said he saves money on autopsies by using a less expensive pathologist and by transporting bodies himself.
County Attorney Marty Lucas said he couldn’t find anything in state law limiting the cost of autopsies, or even preventing coroner’s offices from charging other counties higher fees. “When we get the bills, we ought to look at that,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind preparing a letter on that, saying that this seems like an unfair burden on counties that are on the other end of that. That’s not what the law was intended to do. The law was intended to protect the counties that were importing cases, like Allen County, which makes sense.”
Hoffer also presented council members with a detailed list of autopsies conducted by his office, along with his reasoning for doing them. Coroners in Marshall and Pulaski counties have also reported a significant increase in their autopsy numbers, in recent months.
