January 12, 2004

ROMNEY PROPOSES INCREASED FUNDING FOR MEDICAL EXAMINER

Swears in Medicolegal Investigation Commission Members

As he revitalized the board responsible for finding a new Chief Medical Examiner, Governor Mitt Romney today said he will propose an increase in funding to help professionalize and upgrade the office.

Recognizing that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has been chronically underfunded, Romney announced he will propose a 60 percent increase in funding for the office in his Fiscal Year 2005 budget, which is scheduled to be filed at the end of the month.

Romney also swore in the members of the Medicolegal Investigation Commission and charged them with recommending a new Chief Medical Examiner.

“The first crucial task for the legal and medical professionals on this commission is to recommend top-notch candidates for the state’s Chief Medical Examiner,” Romney said.

“The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has been chronically underfunded for more than a decade,” said Romney. “This additional funding in my budget will allow the office to purchase new lab equipment and make other sorely need upgrades to bring the office into the 21st century.”

The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, the state agency responsible for the delivery of forensic services, is well below the national standard for processing and analyzing forensic data at current funding levels. Romney’s budget proposal will optimize services to the law enforcement community and help bring justice to victims and their families.

Romney said he will propose in his budget an additional $2.18 million for the office to adequately support the 3,000 forensic autopsies and 1,000 post-mortem examinations the office performs each year, bringing the total recommended appropriation to $5.8 million. The funding will also enable the office to optimize responsiveness, reduce turnaround time, enhance stability and accuracy of testing, and expand the testing spectrum for suspected drug use.

“Governor Romney’s support for increased funding for the Medical Examiner’s Office after more than 10 years of frozen budgets, along with his commitment to the revitalization of the Medicolegal Commission, will enable the office to attract top-notch professional staff and to improve the poor conditions of its physical facilities,” said Secretary of Public Safety Edward Flynn, who also serves as Chair of the Medicolegal Commission.

With the revitalization of the Medicolegal Investigation Commission, which has been inactive for several years, it will now offer professional oversight and guidance to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. The commission has 16 volunteer members, with each member serving a three-year term or until a successor is appointed, which ever is longer.

The commission is required to meet at least three times a year.

As required by statute, the makeup of the commission is comprised of the Public Safety Secretary, who serves as Chair, the Public Health Commissioner, a dean of a Massachusetts medical school, forensic pathologists, a medical doctor, an attorney, a law professor, a funeral director and district attorneys among others.

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