From staff reports
As part of the FY23 County Budget, the Beaufort County Coroner will be adding Autopsy Services.
“The citizens of Beaufort County deserve the best service they can get from the Coroner’s Office,” Beaufort County Coroner David Ott said in a release. “As we help citizens through the worst days of their lives, they need to know that we are doing everything to help them in the most expeditious manner possible.”
The Pathology Department in the Coroner’s Office will save the taxpayers $42,525 plus savings within law enforcement budgets because personnel will no longer be required to travel to Charleston to observe the autopsy or collect evidentiary items.
Autopsies are currently scheduled four or five days from the date of death and have taken up to seven or eight days, including transport up to Charleston. Results can take up to 12 weeks leaving family questions lingering and delaying critical clues that law enforcement needs.
With the approval of the FY23 budget, County Council will approve the Coroner’s office adding a Forensic Pathology Department. The addition of this department will cut down the waiting process to 24-36 hours for the autopsy and provide answers on the cause of death in 48 hours, barring the need for tissue or toxicology-related specimen processing.
This department will also be able to support local law enforcement directly by providing the opportunity for investigating deputies and officers to be able to attend the autopsy, ask questions to the Pathologist, and receive evidence without having to travel.
When the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office opened at its current location in 2014, the former Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen included the beginnings of an autopsy suite. This building area has been an unused resource for the community and law enforcement.
The total initial startup cost is approximately $438,400.
Forensic Pathologist Salary: $275,000
Pathologist’s Assistant Salary: $70,000
Cost of Initial Start-up Purchases: $88,400
Estimated Annual Cost of Supply Replenishment: $5,000
Startup purchases include the cost of a portable x-ray machine, floor scale to weigh the decedent on a stretcher, a dissection station, tools/instruments and other small equipment for dissection, and all the consumable products needed to get the autopsy suite operational.
The Coroner anticipates surrounding counties paying to use the department about 50 times a year with the same benefits of shorter autopsy times and benefits to law enforcement. Add this to the Beaufort County average of 190 autopsies per year and it will save taxpayers money overall.
