New York City doesn't have enough medical examiners and the union that represents the physicians that work for the city asked the mayor for more funding to hire additional examiners to prevent the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) from collapsing.
The physicians from the OCME, represented by Doctors Council SEIU, submitted a letter to Mayor Eric Adams on July 19 outlining the urgent need for funding, according to a press release.
The letter emphasizes the lack of urgency in investing in the physicians, training programs, and infrastructure necessary to keep OCME afloat, which is critical in assisting forensic cases for the NYPD, District Attorneys and families of victims.
"It has become impossible to retain and recruit critically needed OCME staff as a result of low pay and the failure of the New York City Office of Labor Relations (OLR) to renew a 2018 memorandum of agreement (MOA) that expired over 3 years ago made with the intention of avoiding this current city-wide crisis. We implore you to take immediate action to avoid losing your medical examiners (MEs), your borough offices, and your ME fellowship training program, the losses of which will not only have disastrous consequences for the City of New York, its law enforcement, and our criminal justice system, but for the nation’s forensic pathology specialty," the letter read.
The letter also outlined the shrinking staff.
"The MEs in NYC are some of the lowest-paid in the country. As a result, it is nearly impossible to retain current staff and recruit new staff. Our senior doctors and recent fellowship graduates are forced to leave our city for ME offices that offer competitive salaries in locations with significantly lower costs of living. Since the MOA providing us with critical funding expired in 2021, OCME has lost 23 of its 32 full-time MEs – by far the highest rate of attrition this agency has ever seen. We anticipate losing six more in the immediate future. We currently have 20.5 MEs who perform autopsies and four fellows who require close supervision. Based on discussions with our colleagues, we believe that number will be even lower before the end of the year – meaning that the institutional knowledge of our staff is plummeting. Five years ago, 70% of the ME’s had ten or more years of experience; currently only 20% have that same level of experience," the letter said.
In particular, the letter cited the danger of the Brooklyn OCME was in danger of halting operations due to the staffing crisis.
"This will have a dramatic impact on families of the deceased, funeral homes, and religious communities, not to mention the delays in investigating deaths necessary for the New York City Police Department and the District Attorney's offices to function," the letter said.
Even if the Brooklyn office can remain open, without an immediate and ongoing funding, the number of autopsies will likely be reduced to about 2,000 cases a year.
"It is daunting. It is exhausting. It is not sustainable," the letter said.
