By Kara McMurray
Gazette Reporter 

Coroner death coverage marks 40 percent increase in 2015

 

November 25, 2015



Pointing to a 40 percent increase in responses by his office this year, Coroner Pete Martin last week requested a $24,730 addition to his operating budget for 2015. This amendment, approved unanimously by the three commissioners, brought the total coroner budget to $162,568 for the year.

“We have clearly used up our budget authorization,” he told the commissioners. “And there might be some change in demographic where we might be seeing more of this.”

Martin told the Gazette that this year his office has seen 102 cases, up from an average of 70 per year.

The tally for his report was as of Nov. 20. One more fatality accident was investigated Sunday.

Martin noted December is usually a high case month at the coroner’s office, with more suicide deaths being recorded and more car accidents due to winter weather road conditions.

He added that this year has not followed a traditional pattern with three of his cases being traditional homicides and a hunting accident that was classified as a homicide as well as a number of suicides and motor vehicle accidents.

“This year has been a challenge,” said Martin. “The demand has been substantially increased. We just do not know what we will be experiencing in the long haul.”

Martin told the Gazette that the increased budget request was necessary with the increase in cases as well as increasing autopsy prices.

“Autopsy prices have gone up 20 percent from last year,” he said.

Martin said that there have been more than 20 autopsies performed this year, and he normally sees 15. Each autopsy costs at least $1,800, including the cost of bringing in a pathologist from the coast. He added that some families request autopsies, which is classified as a family private autopsy and costs $3,500.

In addition to the budget amendment, Martin also said that the office has brought in $8,000 in revenue. He said that revenue is generated when the state reimburses the county for the coroner’s work.

“When we do an autopsy, the state reimburses us 40 percent. If you do an autopsy on a child, they reimburse you 100 percent,” he said. “It is really giving you revenue from the money you have already spent.”

Martin said the nature of his job has changed since the time he took office in 1981, and he attributes some of those changes to social media, cell phones and an increased general connectedness.

“We used to have people found deceased in evenings, nights and weekends,” he said. “Now because people are in contact every five minutes, we are finding them at much more random times.”

This shift has created a different role for him and the three deputy coroners in the office, as they need to be on call at all times.

“The demand is different,” he said. “It can be any time, any place, so you have got to be ready. We are 24/7.”

Martin said that there are usually between 300 to 500 deaths recorded per year in Whitman County, and not all of the cases go to the coroner. He said his office takes jurisdiction over anybody who is deceased and had been in a hospital for less than 24 hours, residents in assisted living or nursing homes, all car accidents, homicides, suicides, unknown causes and natural deaths if the individual died unattended, which is classified as not having seen anybody in 36 hours or more.

“We consider every scene a crime scene until proven otherwise,” he said.

This, he said, means treating anything as though it could be evidence and taking care to protect the scene.

“It is an important job to do, functioning for the community,” he said. “It is important that our evidence and findings are accurate.”

Martin said that at the scene he takes photographs and checks the body on the scene.

“We work very hard to do a quality job for the public and for the victim if there is a crime,” he said. “We go the extra mile to be accurate so we are correct and our final conclusions are based on fact.”

He sees cooperation between different agencies as a must for the city and for his job.

“It is important to interface with law enforcement,” he said. “All the agencies now in this county work very closely together.”

Martin added that there was a time when the agencies did not work so closely.

“It has changed, and it has changed for the better,” he said. “All these agencies are much more proactive with each other.”

There is no telling what next year will bring for the coroner’s office, Martin said.

“It is interesting. They just keep coming,” he said. “We cannot be totally naive and say that this will not happen again.”

 

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