The thought of dead bodies being stacked on top of one another due to overcrowding at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office resembles the scandal that took place at Burr Oak Cemetery three years ago.
But while Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she would not categorize the problems at the medical examiner's office as another Burr Oak Cemetery scandal, instead she described what has taken place there as "disturbing and disappointing."
A story first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, the county morgue has been swamped with bodies primarily by poor families with no resources to bury their loved ones as well as unclaimed corpses including fetuses resulting from abortions.
The county president has announced new changes being implemented to deal with problem once and for all.
"My team is systematically tackling the issue we're encountering at the ME's office from time limits on storage to better processes and inventory control," Preckwinkle said at a Thursday news conference. "Our goal is to put written policies in place to increase efficiency and accountability."
Preckwinkle toured the morgue on Thursday and said some of the disturbing images she saw broadcasted this week on TV were not there although there are still "too many bodies and not enough space to store them."
According to Martha Martinez, deputy chief for Cook County Bureau of Administration, there were 300 bodies at the morgue on Thursday, down from 363 just a week ago before indigent burials took place. Roughly 77 burials have taken place in the past two weeks, Martinez added.
But employees at the medical examiner's office, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing their jobs, told a different story.
According to those employees, a total of 500 bodies, 400 adults and 100 babies, still remain at the morgue even though there is only enough storage space for 300.
At the heart of the problems is the county's Medical Examiner Dr. Nancy Jones, who under current county oridnance, cannot be fired by Preckwinkle or anyone else.
"It seems ironic that the medical examiner does not have a set term like other county appointees," Preckwinkle added. "I understand state finding was at one point an issue for the medical examiner's office but that has since been rectified and the problems remain."
Jones did not attend the news conference and was unavailable for comment.
So until a new ordinance can be adopted that would give Preckwinkle the authority to remove Dr. Jones, she has ordered Martinez and Robin Kelly, chief of the Cook County Bureau of Administration, to spend time at the morgue daily and to carry out her policy changes.
"In the future, if county employees have a problem with their department they should come to me. I have an open door policy and there is no need to go to the media with internal problems," explained Preckwinkle. "By doing so, those employees have brought shame on county employees, the medical examiner's office and myself."
In July 2009 Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart uncovered a scandal at Burr Oak Cemetery where four employees were reselling plots to unsuspected families for cash and then burying numerous bodies on top of one another and even discarding remains to make room for more illegal burials.
Burr Oak in south suburban Alsip is predominately occupied by blacks including civil rights figure Emmett Till, famous singer Dinah Washington and several members of the historic Negro Baseball League.
Comments