Chief medical examiner quits amid turmoil

The head of San Francisco’s medical examiner office, which has been plagued by a staff shortage and a deep backlog of death cases, is stepping down, administrators said Thursday.

Dr. Amy Hart is resigning as chief medical examiner but will stay on to perform autopsies and oversee the office’s two other forensic pathologists, said City Administrator Naomi Kelly.

The city will conduct a nationwide search for a new chief medical examiner, Kelly said. Officials have also been looking for an office administrator since Bill Ahern left abruptly in October.

A Chronicle investigation last fall found that the office had a backlog of hundreds of cases, almost half of which had languished for more than six months. That backlog violated national industry standards, which call for medical examiners to close 90 percent of cases within three months.

Former staffers described the office as poorly run, with a micromanaging Hart in-

sisting on signing off on all paperwork. A national accrediting organization gave the office only provisional accreditation in early 2013, in part because of the backlog and a shortage of pathologists.

Hart “indicated a willingness” to keep working at the office after her successor is found, Kelly said.

“I see it as a positive for her to stay on,” Kelly said. “We had a shortage in staff on the medical side. I think she recognizes a lot of her time was taken away on the administrative stuff.”

Hart, 59, could not be reached for comment. She was appointed in 2004 by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Three of the office’s forensic pathologists, who do autopsies and determine cause of death, had quit in recent years, and recruiting replacements proved difficult. The office has funding for four pathologists, but at one point was down to just one.

Including Hart, the office now has three pathologists. The city administrator’s office, which oversees the medical examiner, will continue searching for a fourth pathologist.