S.J. Supervisors to vote on autopsy services contract

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will vote to authorize Sheriff Steve Moore to enter a contract with Dr. Arnold Josselson to provide autopsy services from Dec. 1, 2018 to Nov. 30, 2019.

The contract would not exceed $300,000 per year, according to the recommendation, although that limit could be increased to $500,000 if needed, and the contract would be paid from the sheriff-coroner budget.

Josselson has previously worked for the county under Forensic Medical Group, a Fairfield-based firm that had been contracted to provide backup autopsy services since 2010 that terminated its contract effective Sept. 30, 2018.

Josselson expressed interest in continuing to work for the county under his own contract, and the county purchasing department issued an agreement of less than $100,000 to continue his services as of Oct. 1, 2018.

Although Josselson will charge the same price of $1,250 per autopsy as Forensic Medical Group did, the recommendation said, the coroner’s office expects to incur costs of approximately $205,000 from Dec. 1, 2018 until the end of the fiscal year based on the amount of autopsies that need to be performed.

When Dr. Bennet Omalu and Dr. Susan Parson resigned from their positions as forensic pathologists in December 2017 — claiming that Moore interfered with investigations by attempting to influence their decisions — the coroner’s office began relying on firms such as Forensic Medical Group as primary providers of autopsy services.

When county supervisors voted in April to create a new medical examiner’s office independent of the sheriff ’s office, they granted county staff 24 months to hire a medical examiner and fully staff and establish the office.

According to Deputy Ezequiel Peña of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, there are currently four firms contracted to provide autopsy services until a medical examiner’s office is established, and 693 autopsies to be performed.

“The amount of time it takes for a pathologist to complete their autopsy varies from case to case and is dependent upon the circumstances surrounding the death,” Peña said in an email. “Case closure times can range from 3-12 months.”

Although candidates for the medical examiner will go before the supervisors in December, county administrator Monica Nino said in an email that the final candidates have not yet been selected.

“The applicant pool is small, and individuals with existing experience in being a Medical Examiner is even smaller,” Nino said.