SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – The Spokane County Medical Examiner (ME) has ended its contract with the Kootenai County Coroner, leaving Kootenai County in a bind for conducting autopsies.
Dr. Duke Johnson, Kootenai County Coroner, expressed surprise at the news, noting that the Spokane ME’s Office will no longer perform autopsies for them, at least for now. This decision affects the annual 70 autopsies typically conducted for Kootenai County.
Kootenai County Commissioner Leslie Duncan stated that Spokane has reduced the number of autopsies over the past few years. The contract previously required $140,000 annually from Kootenai County taxpayers.
In response, the commissioners have approved emergency funding to set up a temporary lab in the coroner’s office. Dr. Johnson attributed the contract’s end to concerns raised by the Spokane ME about an employee working with a former “disgruntled” ME employee, a claim he denies.
“There was some communications going back and forth from the Spokane medical examiner to the current coroner and that had a role to play in it,” Commissioner Duncan stated.
Duncan did not provide further details on the communications. NonStop Local has reached out to the Spokane County ME but has not yet received a response.
Meanwhile, Kootenai County is constructing a permanent lab for autopsies, with the project costing over a million dollars.
