Maryland’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office is dealing with a backlog of over 200 bodies waiting for an autopsy, causing the need to store some in a Baltimore garage and loading dock.
The state is renting the space, Metro West Garage, for $30,000 as it deals with a backlog driven by staffing shortages and an increase in homicides and overdoses, Maryland’s Chief Medical Examiner Victor Weedn said last week at a Postmortem Examiners Commission.
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Weedn said that the backlog was expected to surpass 300 bodies by this week, the oldest cases waiting two weeks to be autopsied, as reported by Maryland Matters.
The Department of Health has ignored the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for so long, it is now a public emergency being helped by FEMA. https://t.co/njYsNZeRup
— Kirill Reznik (@DelegateReznik) February 11, 2022
The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed to the outlet that it had deployed an expert from the Disaster Mortuary Operation Response Team to help respond to the backlog.
“The Department of Health has ignored the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for so long, it is now a public emergency being helped by FEMA,” Maryland State Del. Kirill Reznik wrote in a tweet.
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Maryland’s Department of Health is recruiting for at least 21 positions, including assistant medical examiner.
Maryland’s Department of Health and FEMA did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
