Longtime Macomb County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz ending contract with county

Longtime Macomb County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Daniel Spitz is ending his pathology services contract with the county, and Macomb County officials are looking to contract with the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office in the interim.

A two-sentence letter dated Sept. 19 from Spitz to Andrew Cox, Macomb County's director of health and community services, is a notice for termination of the contract between the county and Spitz Pathology Group PLLC in Clinton Township. Spitz has been serving the county for nearly 20 years after taking over for his world-renowned father, Werner Spitz.

"We were really just ready to move on and move forward," Daniel Spitz told the Free Press on Thursday. "I've been here 20 years and I have enjoyed my time. But I've had some other opportunities come up, which were difficult to manage with all the things going on, and so I decided to move forward and take some of those opportunities. ... It was just a good time for us with other opportunities being out there. It was something I needed to make a decision on."

Spitz also is chief medical examiner in St. Clair County and he said he began working with the medical examiner system in Saginaw County within the last few months.

"There's some value in making changes sometimes," he said. "You have to go when the opportunities arise."

Macomb County Deputy Executive Vicki Wolber said Spitz gave officials the notice of termination last week. She said the current, four-year contract requires 90 days' notice to opt out, but officials need to bring someone onboard to take on new cases. She said it is anticipated that Spitz will stop taking new cases sometime next week.

Wolber said Spitz is expected to be completely done in early January, and Oakland County probably will be providing services for at least six to nine months, depending on when Macomb County is able to hire pathologists and get them up and running to take on new cases.

Wolber said using Oakland County's services is Macomb County's "short-term plan," with Oakland County's chief forensic pathologist/chief medical examiner, Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, to be named Macomb County's medical examiner. She said bodies would be transported to the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office in Pontiac instead of to the Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office in Mount Clemens in the interim.

Wolber said Oakland County's services would be on a per-fee basis and depend on the services provided and the autopsies performed.

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The Macomb County Board of Commissioners' Health and Human Services Committee is to discuss the matter Oct. 11, with items on the agenda to: rescind Spitz's appointment as the county's medical examiner, approve an interlocal agreement with Oakland County for medical examiner services, and appoint Dragovic as Macomb County's medical examiner through Oct. 10, 2024, or until a new chief forensic pathologist is appointed. If approved, the changes would take effect Oct. 11, per material in the committee's agenda packet.

Wolber said Macomb County's long-term plan will be to hire a medical examiner and two deputy medical examiners who would be county employees. The county's only medical examiner's office employees who are not county workers are Spitz, another full-time pathologist and a part-time pathologist through Spitz's group.

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel's proposed 2024 county budget includes a $300,000 salary for a medical examiner and $270,000 salaries for each of the two deputy medical examiners.

Spitz's current contract began in 2022. Wolber said there was "no real inkling" Spitz was going to terminate the contract and his decision was unexpected. She said Macomb County officials want to ensure the "best services possible" for the people and families that come through the medical examiner's office.

Spitz said Macomb County has made some changes and "it's been difficult with staffing" levels.

In December, two morgue employees were fired after they were accused of taking drugs from the medical examiner's office. To prevent future incidents, the Sheriff's Office was going to take custody of medical inventory going forward.

This was the second time in three years the medical examiner's office was under fire. Four employees were fired in 2020 after alleged sexist and racist behavior, including a penis cake that appeared at the office the same week of George Floyd's death.

In 2013, county commissioners took the unusual move of subpoenaing Spitz and questioning him about his budget, operations, workload and contract after becoming concerned he was overextending himself.

His caseload first became an issue with the county board nearly three years earlier when he missed a bullet wound while conducting an autopsy on banker David Widlak. The wound was discovered during a second, independent autopsy by Dragovic.

Wolber said Macomb County officials were trying to be proactive in making sure the medical examiner's office offered good services and had the latest technology and that they are trying to fill vacant positions. But positions in the seven-day-a-week office are hard to fill.

"A morgue, it takes a special kind of individual to work in that environment," she said.

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Wolber said they have made improvements across the board in the county's pay structure to try to attract and retain quality workers.

Spitz said it may be difficult for Macomb County to hire a pathologist as there is not an abundance of certified forensic pathologists and a "tremendous amount" of open positions around the country. But, he said, he believes the positions will be filled.

Wolber said county officials believe they will be competitive with the salary and benefits they will be offering.

Spitz said moving cases outside Macomb County could jeopardize the medical examiner's office's accreditation with the National Association of Medical Examiners, which it first received in 2014. Wolber also said this could affect the office's accreditation process.

The caseload in the state's third most populous county isn't light.

The Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office investigated 6,769 deaths in 2021, of which 754 bodies were brought to the office for a forensic examination by a forensic pathologist. Of those 754 bodies, 562 were complete autopsies, 164 were external examinations and 28 were limited autopsies. There were 688 toxicology assessments performed according to the office's 2021 annual report, the most recent available annual report.

Macomb County officials said there were 627 autopsies performed last year.

"I hope it works for the people of the county. I hope it works for the staff that's going to be left here in Macomb County at the office," Spitz said.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Longtime Macomb Medical Examiner Dan Spitz ending contract with county