The autopsy pricing deal that Starke County officials thought was a good one through the Lake County Coroner’s Office isn’t as good as initially thought.
On Monday night, Coroner Dannie Hoffer gave the commissioners an update on his recent discussion on that topic with Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey.
“She said that the autopsies are going to be $1,100, plus $400 for the rental of the hospital and the assistant, plus the cost of the toxicology report which is about $260,” reported Hoffer. “We’re about right where we are by doing them here.”
The county is currently paying around $1,800 for autopsies. Commissioner Kathy Norem, along with Councilman Dave Pearman and Adam Gray from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department all recall the previous conversation with the Lake County Coroner that it would be a flat $1,000 fee to do autopsies in Lake County. Apparently, that’s not the case.
Hoffer added that he was to have a meeting with Ashley Dickinson at LaPorte Hospital this week to discuss an opportunity to do pre-screen toxicology quick labs at Starke Hospital to determine if a full-blown autopsy needs to be done on a suspected opioid death or if a complete toxicology lab needs to be ordered. Hoffer said a toxicology test would be much cheaper. Starke Hospital does not currently offer that service.
Hoffer recently learned that Starke County is one of the top five counties in the state with high opioid-related deaths. With that, the Indiana State Board of Health has agreed pay for any toxicology test the county conducts that proves the victim died of an opioid overdose.
