For Less Money, Less Service at Coroner’s

In reply to the Other Views by Phillip D. Campbell (Feb. 11), Campbell accurately describes the internal operation of the Los Angeles County Coroners Office as the funeral directors of this county also see it. Campbell is one of the coroner’s employees who are concerned and efficient. However, in our experience, there are other employees who could not care less.

This association frequently meets with Los Angeles County Coroner Ronald Kornblum, and we are consistently told that because of a lack of funds to provide adequate equipment and personnel, delays and errors are unavoidable.

Something is wrong when a dead body lies in a hospital for three to four days before the coroner removes it. Something is wrong when a mortuary makes three 50-mile round trips to the coroner’s office to pick up remains, relying on misinformation received from employees. Something is wrong when a dead body under the jurisdiction of the coroner begins to decompose before it is released to the mortuary. These are only a few examples of the many things that are wrong at the coroner’s office.

Campbell referred to people demanding priority treatment. One can only ask why VIPs like Pete Maravich can be removed by the coroner, processed and a cause of death issued within 24 hours. Yet the average county resident who owns his home and pays taxes here, has to wait out the process which can be anywhere from three to five days or longer.

The Board of Supervisors cut the coroner’s office budget last year. Less money equals less service. We feel it is imperative the supervisors take a closer look at these problems. Experiencing the death of a relative is traumatic in itself, without having to be subjected to lengthy delays, extra expense and misinformation because of budgetary miscalculations.

LARRY E. HAWKINS,

President, L.A. County

Funeral Directors Assn.