PITTSBURGH — More than a year after a Target 11 Investigation exposed delays and other issues involving notification of death certificates and autopsy reports, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office is making changes.
The changes come after a Target 11 Investigation highlighted some of the difficulties a couple encountered while awaiting reports on the overdose death of their daughter.
“Death is a very, very lonely journey. The grief is unbearable. I never knew a body could cry this much, but knowing that we can help others, " said Sherry Matt, whose 21-year-old daughter Siena, passed away in September of 2020.
Sherry Matt is referring specifically to a new interactive website the Medical Examiner’s office just launched that allows family members to track information about the death of a loved one in Allegheny County. This information includes cause and manner of death, autopsy reports and toxicology reports.
“When you’re grieving like you just don’t want any more work ahead of you, you don’t want a process that is just going to roadblock you and, and there’s so many obstacles. This is so easy for families to use,” said Matt.
Matt said her daughter had struggled with addiction and depression, but had recently returned from rehab and appeared to be doing much better. She died from a fentanyl overdose in the basement of their home.
Allegheny County Police are still investigating her death.
Matt and her husband, Tom Bott, reached out to Target 11 shortly after their daughter’s death, when they were told it would take up to five months to get the results of toxicology and reports.
“The real thing that’s driving us to speak out is the medical examiner told us that five to six fentanyl deaths happen a day in Allegheny County, and if you extrapolate that out for 20 weeks, that’s another 700 people that will die before we get our daughter’s toxicology report; so that’s more deaths, that’s more drug dealers on the street, that’s more police officers’ work. It’s just ridiculous, like what takes 20 weeks. It’s lost time,” said Matt, who acknowledged that the delay could be a matter of life or death.
After our report, the couple took their concerns to the Allegheny County chief executive, the county manager, and the director of the medical examiner’s lab.
“We had a very interactive discussion and they brought forward a lot of good ideas, " said lab director Mandy Tinkey.
Tinkey and the Allegheny County Information Technology department spent more than a year developing and then refining the next-of-kin page on the medical examiner’s website.
It now comes complete with detailed information about the process, links to obtain documents concerning autopsies and death reports, a timeline of tests that have been completed and are still pending, and when they will be finished.
“I’ve been to a lot of other medical examiners’ websites. There’s nothing like this. We’re doing things that nobody else is doing, " said Allegheny County Medical Examiner, Dr. Karl Williams.
Relatives get a secure pin number to access the information.
No personal information or results are posted, only information about the status of the tests and reports.
The hope also is that this will expedite the process.
“So, with using this technology to have a more immediate response is hopefully going to eliminate those delays,” said Tinkey, who acknowledged that it’s also a kinder and gentler approach to keeping grieving loved ones in the loop.
They’ve also implemented a new policy to call next of kin prior to mailing the final autopsy report, and the manner and cause of death. Sherry Matt says that is one thing that really caught her off-guard when she went to her mailbox one day.
“Nobody will have to go their mailbox blindsided and get that envelope with the medical examiner’s office. They’ll know ahead of time. They will be able to track much like an Amazon package,” said Matt, who told me that she and her husband are grateful to the county for not only listening to their concerns but then taking this action.
“They nailed this. They absolutely nailed this. It’s too late for our family ‚but for families that are going to encounter the loss of a loved one, it’s going to happen every day unfortunately, but for those families it’s such a gift, " said Matt, who has also launched a foundation called Stop The Judgment to raise awareness about addiction and mental health disorders.
The family also expressed thanks to Target 11 for telling their story.
“And thank you for making that initial visit, coming to our home and then this follow-up. We really appreciate it,” said Tom Bott.
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