BALTIMORE — A federal team helped clear a backlog of between 200 and 300 cases that had piled up in the overwhelmed Maryland medical examiners’ office, state and federal officials confirmed Friday.
The state office located in Baltimore, officially called the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, once a national model, has been suffering in recent years from staff shortages and increasing delays that has left families waiting to bury loved ones and potentially putting criminal cases at risk, in addition to jeopardizing its national accreditation.
Delegate Kirill Reznik said he was told during a call to the office that the case backlog had been addressed by a team sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that was there this week. The Montgomery County Democrat has been following the staff shortages closely and introduced legislation to require the examiners’ office to staff appropriately.
