Officials: New ME committed to work here
Pietrangelo to remain deputy examiner in St. Clair County
The new Macomb County medical examiner will continue to serve as the deputy examiner in St. Clair County but is committed to serving Macomb first.
That’s the answer county commissioners got from Andrew Cox, county director of Health and Community Services, and Dr. Mary Pietrangelo before she was formally approved last week as the Macomb County medical examiner to replace the long-serving former ME Dr. Daniel Spitz.
“She’s our medical examiner and she will be doing our work as the primary focus of her job,” Cox told commissioners at a Feb. 6 meeting of the Board of Commissioners’ Health and Human Services Committee. “I am so happy that we have Mary, that she’s decided to stay on with us. We are so fortunate to have Mary and her years of experience and her ability to work in our office and the community.”
Pietrangelo said at the meeting she will continue to fill in for Spitz, who is the St. Clair County examiner, when he is unavailable such as on vacation but only “if I can, and that’s the understanding.”
Pietrangelo began working for the county again and officially became the medical examiner last week following Spitz’s resignation last October after serving in the post for over 20 years. Spitz had actually submitted the resignation on behalf of his company last September and it was supposed to take effect in January, but last October the county nixed the deal and hired Oakland County Medical Examiner Ljubisa Dragovic as Macomb’s medical examiner on an interim basis. Pietrangelo worked for the Spitz Pathology Group.
Spitz, whose father, Werner, previously served as the county ME, worked for the county as a contractor. But following off-and-on controversies involving the office and some lack of clarity over duties over the years, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel decided to make the medical examiner a full employee with a $300,000 salary, upon board’s approval.
Spitz’s company, which included Pietrangelo as deputy, was averaging $825,000 per year under his contract.
Pietrangelo has been the deputy examiner in St. Clair, working “on a limited basis,” for the past 11 years, she said, while she also served as the deputy examiner in Macomb under Spitz.
She said she works for Macomb during the day and, if needed, in St. Clair for autopsies on nights and weekends.
“It’s always been for coverage issues,” she told commissioners. “They’re very flexible when it comes to needing help.
“If it were to become a problem, I’m sure it will be brought to your attention and then we have to make some decisions about that.”
Cox added, “I have no doubt of her work ethic, and she will be in the office all of the time.”
Pietrangelo in the coming months will be seeking to hire two deputy medical examiners at a projected salary of $270,000 each. But she said it may be difficult due to a national shortage of forensic pathologists.
“I’m looking so forward to getting the office staffed and back up to full speed,” she said. “It has been painful watching the bodies going out of the county. I’m very excited they’re coming back to Macomb.”
During the interim, Oakland County also is continuing to assist after it was hired to do Macomb autopsies during the interim period between parting with Spitz and hiring Pietrangelo.
An unnamed physician who has helped out the county in the past when needed will continue in that role, she added.
The office also employs six full-time investigators, two part-time investigators and three full-time morgue specialists, as well as some clerical staff.
Cox said Pietrangelo has been easy to work with and is open to communication.
“It’s been so refreshing,” he said.
Responding to questions by Republican Commissioner James Perna of Clinton Township, Pietrangelo said she has an “open door policy” when it comes to responding to families of deceased people who have questions about her office’s findings.
“You don’t want people (survivors) left hanging with loose ends,” she said.
She said there is a 90-day deadline under the National Association of Medical Examiners.
She said 90% of death investigations require a toxicology report and “many” of them require “microscopic study.”
“We’ll obviously do better when we are fully staffed,” she said.
In 2021 in Macomb, 6,769 autopsies were conducted on 8,585 deaths, a 79% rate of investigations in relation to deaths, according to county Health Department statistics.
Cox said he and an “interdisciplinary team” of county officials is reviewing the office’s operations and making changes if necessary.
“There’s already been some great changes that have taken place … on how to do things more efficiently,” he said.
Pietrangelo said she will work with the University of Michigan Health in exchanging data, which she said benefits both the Macomb office and U-M Health.