Via the Edmonton Journal: Alberta adds two medical examiners in part to help with opioid deaths. Excerpt:
The province is hiring two more medical examiners as it copes with a growing population and a worsening opioid crisis.
The announcement came Wednesday as Statistics Canada released census data showing the province’s population grew by 11.6 per cent from 2011 to 2016, the highest growth rate in the country. That means more deaths to investigate and the short-staffed medical examiner’s office has been struggling to keep up.
“The increase in the population obviously comes with an increase in the overall number of deaths. It’s a steady sort of parallel relationship,” said chief medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Brooks-Lim.
In 2014, one per cent of the office’s cases took longer than nine months. In 2015, that number rose to 1.75 per cent.
Adding to the workload was a Supreme Court ruling in July that set caps of 18 months for criminal cases before the provincial courts and 30 months for superior courts from the time charges are laid. Cases can be stayed if the cap is exceeded, so medical examiners have to prioritize those cases.
The Wednesday announcement — bumping the number of medical examiners from eight to 10 — was made at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where the province said it’s investing $1 million per year. Of that, $790,000 will be used to pay for the additional medical examiners.
When the hiring is completed, the province will have five medical examiners in Calgary and five in Edmonton. Another medical examiner is set to join the Calgary office in April to fill a previously vacant spot. The money will also fund a research officer who will be tasked with managing data and sharing it with other government departments, like Alberta Health. The remaining funding will be spent on supplies and services.
Renovations at the office of the medical examiner have also wrapped up. The $20.6-million, multi-year project included construction of a larger toxicology laboratory, expansion of the autopsy space and morgue and installation of improved biocontainment equipment for handling hazardous materials.
