Utah’s Death Investigation Backlog Impacts Insurance Payouts
Utah state medical examiners have an autopsy caseload that’s twice the recommended maximum, but the state still has a months-long delay in death investigations that’s affecting homicide investigations, insurance payouts and organ donations.
The Standard-Examiner reported that Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Erik Christensen that despite exceeding the recommended annual maximum workload of 325 death cases per pathologist, his office still has a massive backlog.
Christensen says Utah’s high population growth rate combined with a high rate of suicide and drug overdose deaths make it nearly impossible to keep up with death investigations at his current staffing levels.