‘I just need answers now’: Families wait for closure as high caseloads, vacancies plague NC medical examiner’s office
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – High caseloads and limited staff at the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are leading to families waiting for closure in their loved ones’ deaths.
One of those is the family of Joyce Alexander. She wants to know why her brother died after suddenly collapsing 14 months ago.
“We don’t know if it’s something to do with drugs or if something heart attack wise, but the point is we don’t know,” Alexander said.
Her brother Timothy Ray Jones died on April 15, 2023. The family continues to wait for a death certificate with his cause of death, something especially tough for her parents who are almost 90 years old.
“No one knows what time would have you, but, they’re elderly and we don’t know what’ll happen when and they still don’t have closure,” Alexander said. “That’s the worst, that’s like the worst part of it as well, that they don’t have closure and they’re that age.”
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said pathologists are performing 350 autopsy equivalents per year, which is 100 more than a national standard suggests. NCDHHS said that is partially why pathologists are not able to meet that standard’s timeline for autopsy report completions.
The standard calls for 90% of autopsy reports to be completed within 90 days. NCDHHS said the average time to complete or close a case is more than 200 days.
Alexander’s been waiting more than twice that.
DHHS said staffing struggles at OCME also play a role, with 15 permanent state positions vacant, which is a 20% vacancy rate.
“I mean you know it’s a problem ok, how are we going to fix it,” Alexander said.
In an effort to keep up with demand, NCDHHS said there’s a team of temporary staff that make up about 45% of OCME’s workforce.
“Although these team members provide tremendous additions to the workforce, the positions are unstable and without consistent stable funding, and challenging to recruit for due to the lack of benefits, required furlough leading to high turnover,” an NCDHHS spokesperson said.
At the same time, NCDHHS said a rise in overdose deaths contributed to a 26% increase in the caseload between 2019 and 2023.
The department said every death investigation conducted by OCME has its own unique set of circumstances and the length of time to complete a case can vary based on a number of factors.
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