Brown County is launching an unbiased medical examiner’s business office, ending a partnership with the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Business office, which has overseen the northeastern Wisconsin county’s autopsies since 2016.
The Brown County Board of Supervisors voted July 20 to use a entire-time chief professional medical examiner and conclusion an arrangement with Dane County, which served Brown County up grade and professionalize its products and services in latest yrs.
The restructuring arrives as Brown County prepares to open a $12 million sophisticated, eradicating the need to transport bodies to Dane County.
It also follows an investigation two months back in which 12 current and former workforce told Wisconsin Observe that they frequently endured bullying, screaming and insults from two of their supervisors in the Dane County place of work: longtime Director of Operations Barry Irmen and Dr. Agnieszka Rogalska, the main medical examiner. Both have denied the allegations.
The turmoil in the Dane County office environment was not a component in Brown County’s strategies to start its own health care examiner’s business, Brown County deputy executive Jeff Flynt stated, noting in an e-mail that it experienced been a “long term purpose for lots of years.”
Dane County has appointed a substitution for Irmen, whose place of work recently saw two additional superior-level staff resign. Dr. Cristina Figueroa Soto, the office’s main of investigations since 2021, became director of functions on June 6, according to Greg Brockmeyer, Dane County’s director of administration, with Irmen being on to supply teaching.
Dane County was serving Brown County less than the parameters of a agreement that lately expired, earning it simpler to conclusion the connection, mentioned Keith Deneys, who chairs the Brown County Board’s Public Basic safety Committee.
“There grew to become an option for us to glance at moving off on our possess. Dane has been really useful in getting our health care examiner’s business up and running to skilled benchmarks,” Deneys explained. “There are no ill emotions, or just about anything that they have accomplished, that would have driven us absent.”
Dr. Elizabeth A. Douglas will direct Brown County’s new health-related examiner’s office, adhering to 9 yrs as an assistant professor of forensic pathology at Western Michigan University’s medical university. The county despatched her an provide letter on July 21, Flynt said.
Ending the cross-county partnership will gradual the revenue flowing to the Dane County Health-related Examiner’s Office environment. The place of work budgeted about $733,000 in profits from the Brown County partnership for 2022 — about 23% of its approximated revenue that calendar year, in accordance to information presented by the Dane County Office of Administration.
Other counties
Dane County might also halt or gradual conducting autopsies for Door and Oconto counties underneath the restructuring, which at this time pay Brown County roughly $100,000 just about every per 12 months for health-related examiner-connected solutions — revenue that Brown passes by way of to Dane County, which offers those solutions.
Door and Oconto counties will probable attract products and services from Brown County’s new business, county administrators instructed Wisconsin Look at, whilst some collaboration with Dane County could nevertheless take place. Oconto County Administrator Erik Pritzl claimed he expects a easy change.
“It’s variety of an fascinating time to see these expert services going to a genuine neighborhood, regional provision with Brown County getting the guide,” he claimed.
Rock County, which pays Dane County about $362,000 for each yr for clinical examiner services, has no ideas to slash ties, Rock County Administrator Josh Smith wrote in an email.
“We, as many others, have adopted the reporting about fears expressed by staff from the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Workplace, and we have labored to promote a good operate natural environment in the Rock County office environment,” Smith wrote. “We have valued the enhancements in experience that Dane County has brought to the Rock County business office since the deal began.”
New leadership
Figueroa Soto is filling Irmen’s longtime part. Irmen served as functions director from 2011 right up until he retired in January 2022. Dane County re-hired him on a non permanent, section-time foundation in April amid a search for his permanent replacement. He and Rogalska, who rose to main medical examiner in January immediately after 8 years as deputy main healthcare examiner, deny allegations that they yelled or screamed at workers and drove some to depart the business.
Dane County has never ever experienced its entire complement of 5 budgeted pathologists, which Irmen has attributed to a nationwide lack of pathologists. Since 2013, 5 pathologists have begun and left the Dane County Professional medical Examiner’s Place of work, along with dozens of other staff members who exited positions inside the similar interval of time, Wisconsin Enjoy documented in May perhaps. Wisconsin View could not independently validate the factors for every departure.
Dane County has considering that accepted the resignations of the office’s lead investigator and deputy director of operations, in accordance to Brockmeyer.
“With just about 3,000 personnel Dane County sees turnover in each individual section. The Healthcare Examiner’s Business office is no different in that regard,” Brockmeyer stated in an e mail.
Brockmeyer did not response a question about no matter whether these resignations or Brown County’s adjustments will impact an autopsy backlog that Dane County workforce have explained.
Figueroa Soto served in roles such as deputy healthcare examiner in the Waukesha County Health-related Examiner’s Business for a lot more than five several years just before joining the Dane County Healthcare Examiner’s Workplace in August of 2020 and getting to be main of investigations in September 2021, according to her LinkedIn resume.
Point out Journal reporter Lucas Robinson contributed to this report.