S.J. coroner costs skyrocket
Autopsies four times more under latest contract
By Greg Kane
Stockton Record
February 07, 2007
STOCKTON - An autopsy conducted by the San Joaquin County Coroner's Office costs four times more today than it did last month, one of several hikes that officials believe will eventually cost taxpayers nearly $900,000 extra each year.
The county Board of Supervisors in late January approved a new deal with a local firm that dramatically increases the amount charged for autopsies, medical exams and other coroner duties. The Coroner's Office reviews around 2,500 accidental or suspicious deaths a year, from car accidents and suicides to homicides, and about one-fifth of those require in-depth autopsies, according to annual reports from the department.
The price hike came when Forensic Consultants Medical Group Inc., which formerly provided the county's pathology services under the name Delta Pathology Associates, asked for a raise after working under the same rates since 1995. The county put the contract out to bid in November, and the incumbent firm was the only to submit a proposal, said county Undersheriff John Drummond.
With the new pricing, the 1,843 autopsies conducted by the department from 2002 to 2005 would have cost $3.9 million instead of the actual $737,000.
Dr. Robert Lawrence, the lead of three forensic pathologists on the firm's staff, said an increase was necessary because the firm was not breaking even under the old contract. The rates under the new deal are similar to what the firm charges Merced and Mariposa counties for pathology services, he said.
"We had no raise for 12 years," Lawrence said.
The old deal charged the county $400 per autopsy and $100 for medical exams, according to county figures. With the deal approved in January, autopsies now cost $1,500 and will rise to $2,090 in July. Medical exams are now $800 each, and the firm receives an extra $18,000 a year for a morgue assistant.
The reason for such a large raise is twofold, Drummond said. First, the cost of doing business went up significantly since 1995, and a price increase had become long overdue, he said.
But the firm was also able to set a higher price because of the nation's low supply of forensic pathologists, Drummond said. There are only a few hundred in the United States because of the lengthy training process required to obtain a license. And since forensic pathologists are required to examine suspicious deaths, such firms can charge higher rates without fear of competition.
"They're in high demand," Drummond said.
The amounts charged for pathology services range from county to county. In Sacramento County, there are two county employees licensed as forensic pathologists and a third whose contract is tied to an annual salary, said Ed Smith, a spokesman for that county's Coroner's Office.
Sacramento County's pathologists also perform autopsies for other counties, including Amador and El Dorado, Smith said. In those cases, the county charges $1,200 per autopsy.
Contact reporter Greg Kane at (209) 546-8276 or gkane@recordnet.com.