Florida Coroners Suspect Aid Fraud

The state recorded 123 deaths from last year’s hurricanes, but the federal government has paid funeral expenses for at least 315 people, including those of a man who shot himself and a stroke victim hospitalized more than a week before the last storm hit.

“If you were to call around to all the medical examiner offices, people would say, ‘No way did we have as many deaths as FEMA is saying,’ ” said Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of Florida’s Medical Examiners Commission. “It’s just an incredible number -- a difference of 192. This is the Free Funeral Payment Act.”

The discrepancy is even greater because the families of some victims counted as storm casualties by the medical examiner said they received no help from FEMA, the Sun-Sentinel found in its continuing investigation of hurricane aid.

FEMA officials declined requests for an interview, instead releasing a statement: “FEMA is in Florida to help the victims of the worst series of hurricane disasters in over 100 years, including helping those families who have suffered the loss of loved ones to this disaster.”

The newspaper’s analysis of FEMA claims in Florida shows the government paid $1.27 million for storm-related funerals as of March 10. The agency refuses to identify recipients of disaster aid, including those with funeral-related expenses, citing privacy laws.

Funeral eligibility is “not based exclusively on medical or coroner reports,” FEMA’s statement said. “FEMA may contact organizations like the Red Cross, hospitals, coroners’ offices, police and fire departments, and/or ambulance companies for additional details.”

The state’s medical examiners said their records constituted the official death toll from the storms. “We’re the keepers of the count,” Nelson said.

In Palm Beach County, where FEMA paid 39 funeral claims from hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, the medical examiner recorded a total of eight storm-related deaths, the biggest gap in the state.

“I don’t know where [FEMA] came up with those numbers,” said Dr. Michael Bell, the county’s chief medical examiner.

In Miami-Dade County, where FEMA’s payment for a funeral last fall fueled suspicions of fraud, the agency has since approved four more funerals from Frances. The Labor Day weekend storm made landfall 100 miles to the north, and the county medical examiner recorded no Frances-related deaths.

The agency’s hurricane payments were already under investigation by a U.S. Senate committee, prompted by legislators’ concerns over $31 million given to Miami-Dade residents after Frances. The storm brought no hurricane conditions to the county. Last month, 14 FEMA aid recipients in the county were arrested on federal fraud charges.

FEMA pays for funerals, burial, cremation and other expenses “related to a death caused by the disaster” for families with no insurance to cover the costs, according to its website.

“Disaster-related deaths are not limited to only those deaths that occur during the actual event,” FEMA said in its statement to the newspaper. “Someone may die of a heart attack while cleaning up heavy disaster debris, from injuries sustained in a fall while repairing a damaged roof, or trauma suffered from dangers.”

Medical examiners use the same criteria when ruling deaths as storm-related, Nelson said.

The Central Florida district, encompassing Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties, got hit by three of the four hurricanes. FEMA paid 23 funeral claims in those counties; the medical examiner certified 19 storm-related deaths.

After the storms, Nelson said, FEMA and American Red Cross representatives inundated his office with requests to link additional deaths to the hurricanes.

“In almost every instance, their phone call or fax was the first we even heard of these deaths,” Nelson said.