A few pieces of new legislation will affect the Marshall County Coroner’s Office.
Marshall County Coroner John Grolich told the county council members this week that his budget may need some additional funds with one statute.
“Drug overdoses now have to be autopsied,” explained Grolich. “In the past, we’ve only done toxicology tests. That’s going to drive up our autopsy budget a little bit.”
Grolich encourages all to update Driver’s License information with another piece of legislation set to take effect.
“That barcode on the back actually now will possess emergency contact information. That will help coroners contact family members. Update those as time goes along.”
Another method that coroners can now identify decedents, by law, is artificial body parts.
“A pacemaker, a steel bar that is put in a femur fracture or something – all of those things possess serial numbers and identification numbers so we can actually use those. We’ll have to use a pathologist to recover those parts.”
In addition to this information, the county council approved an additional appropriation request by the coroner for $2,000 to purchase additional body bags.
