San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Coronavirus hikes coroner’s workload
A caseload swelled by the COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for more staff at the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Dr. D. Kimberley Molina, the county’s chief medical examiner. said the number of deaths investigated by the agency increased 17 percent in 2020. So far this year, the office has held an average of 89 bodies in its facility in the South Texas Medical Center at any given time — compared with an average of 50 in 2019, before the pandemic.
“COVID has increased our caseload exponentially,” she said.
Last year’s increase was more than three times the normal 5 percent annual jump tied to population growth, Molina said.
Molina said the heavy caseload threatens the office’s ability to follow best practices and retain its accreditation with the National Association of Medical Examiners. Both issues bear on the integrity of criminal investigations and court cases and the agency’s ability to cope with weather emergencies such as February’s winter storm, Molina told Bexar County commissioners recently.
“As the bodies build up in our office... we no longer have room. And unfortunately, if we run out of room, then we can’t maintain the integrity of these bodies,” she said.
The commissioners approved spending $230,000 to hire an office assistant, two medical investigator clerks and part-time forensic pathology support requested by Molina. She said she plans to ask for at least one more medical examiner, a senior morgue specialist, a medical investigator and an office assistant next year.
County Manager David Smith said he believes the county could be reimbursed for the temporary support with federal coronavirus aid or through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Metropolitan Health District has reported more than 2,600 COVID-related deaths in Bexar County since the start of the pandemic a year ago.
Most COVID deaths occur in hospitals, which report the infor
mation directly to public health authorities. Molina’s office is responsible for conducting postmortem reviews of nonhospital deaths in which COVID could have been the cause or a contributing factor
So far, the office has certified the deaths of more than 250 people who tested positive for the virus, although many of them died from other causes.
Because of limited availability of COVID tests, the office conducts post-mortem tests only on individuals who had symptoms of the disease before they died or who had evidence of complications that could be related to the virus, such as pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, heart attacks or
strokes.
Molina joined the office in 2003 and was appointed chief medical examiner in June. She is the first woman to hold the position.
The agency has a 56member staff and investigates deaths from accidents, violence, sudden illness or unknown causes. It investigated more than 16,000 deaths last year, compared with fewer than 14,000 in 2019.
Last year’s caseload outpaced that of the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, which has 160 staff members and handled about 15,000 cases, Molina told commissioners.
“We investigated more deaths with less than half the staff,” she said, adding that the office now has six doctors doing the workload of nine.
Despite the staffing problems, Molina said her department remains “one of the best ME offices in the country.”
She said has said it will take weeks to determine how many people died from hypothermia and other causes related to the February cold spell.
The department worked throughout the storm. Many employees slept at the office to ensure adequate staffing, she said, adding that the agency’s transport service, Alamo City Mortuary Service, was “out on the roads constantly throughout the entire week.”
Molina told the ExpressNews that in addition to COVID-related deaths, she’d seen a slight increase in natural deaths in 2020 that might be linked indirectly to the pandemic.
She said it appeared some people died of heart attacks and other non-COVID conditions because they didn’t seek hospital care for fear of contracting the virus.
Addressing the county commissioners recently, she reiterated that concern.
“We’re seeing more deaths at home because people aren’t going to the hospital because of COVID,” Molina said.
Amanda Gorman, the 22-yearold poet who captured hearts at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, posted to social media that she was followed home by a security guard who demanded to know where she lived because she “looked suspicious.”
“I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building,” she tweeted of the incident Friday night. “He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat.”
Gorman, the nation’s youngest inaugural poet, lives in Los Angeles but did not specify where the encounter occurred.
Gorman became an instant sensation Jan. 20 when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at Biden’s swearing-in.