NEW PHILADELPHIA - By moving the Schuylkill County Coroner's office into the Simon Kramer Institute, Dr. David J. Moylan believes education can limit the number of autopsies needed during his next four years as county coroner.
"The price of autopsy services went up nearly 50 percent," Moylan said. "We haven't increased our budget but the challenges of solving the manner of death remains the same. If we could learn without performing an autopsy, it could be a great cost saving opportunity."
Earlier this year, the county agreed to a six-month contract with Reading Hospital and Medical Center, West Reading, for autopsies and pathology services at the rate of $1,500 per service. The previous contract with Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street, Pottsville, was not renewed with the county for this year. John E. Simodejka, president/chief executive officer at Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street, said the hospital could no longer guarantee it would be able to provide the services.
Moylan said the six-month contract was made to see if the hospital can handle the additional work load.
The coroner's office has approximately 30 deputies, Moylan said, with about 21 returning from the previous administration.
"They have some very interesting backgrounds and we have also been able to recruit about a half dozen or so that can contribute something to the force," Moylan said. "One of things that I'm really looking forward to is the enthusiasm and I think I've seen that in many of our deputies. I've also been very impressed with the skills of our investigators."
Earlier this year, Dr. Joseph Weber, Ashland, was appointed as chief deputy coroner, while the previous chief deputy, Jim Nettles, will continue to work in the office as a deputy coroner prime investigator. Dr. Richard Bindi, who performed autopsy services at Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street, will serve as a consultant to the coroner.
On Jan. 19, Moylan hosted an organization meeting at the Simon Kramer Institute with all the deputy coroners as well as members of law enforcement, the district attorney's office and emergency medical services. He said he plans to host a meeting once a month. He said previous administrations only held about one meeting a year.
"The purpose of those meetings is to educate and that is what the emphasis is going to be on the next four years," Moylan said. "There are continuing educational requirements for the coroner's office, but they are limited by law to the coroner and the chief deputy. We want to impart that knowledge on our deputy force."
Moylan said he is looking into purchasing high-tech medical equipment that can perform a "virtual autopsy," which will greatly reduce costs associated with autopsies in the long run. However, he also stressed the importance of clinical records, which can now all be stored under one roof at the institute.
"Sometimes we can get enough information from the clinical record to infer the cause of death," Moylan said. "We really look to our medical colleagues and their cooperative efforts on getting records because if we get enough clinical information we can save the county the cost of an autopsy."
Moylan said the records were being kept at three different locations, the previous office at the county communications center, a storage facility in Branchdale and the Schuylkill Medical Center. He also said the records go back probably 50 years.
"Just the other night, we had a patient who expired at home unexpectedly and his father also died prematurely in the late '70s," Moylan said. "Dr. Bindi had done the autopsy in the '70s and was able to give us a synopsis of what he found, which helped us narrow the cause of death for this gentleman and saved us the cost of an autopsy."
Moylan said he plans to finish moving the office and all the records to the institute by the end of the week and the next step would be to make electronic records.
He said he is currently looking at several systems and hopes to have one in place by spring.
"I think there is just going to be a treasure trove of info here," Moylan said. "I would hope we could get some grants aimed at college students for clinical research projects. I would like to get some students in the county interested in doing some forensic projects."
Moylan also said he wants to initiate educational programs involving local law enforcement, schools, the district attorney's office and other public officials to help keep kids out of the morgue. He said he specifically wants to target suicide, head trauma in sports and drug use.
"We are seeing some terrible things, drug overdoes, senseless suicides," Moylan said. "I think if you were to go back and look at what's happened in the last 50 years, you would be surprised with the demographics committing suicide in our small, rural county. There's a lot of people who feel the way we do and hopefully we can make a difference."
Moylan also said he plans to meet with the families of the deceased to review autopsy and toxicology reports.
"I think it helps them with closure and also lets them know what their last hours were like, which can help with the grieving process," Moylan said.