Medical examiner in Westmoreland dead issue

GREENSBURG: Westmoreland County's new coroner said he has no plans to change the structure of his office, preferring to rely on Allegheny County for most medical examiner functions.

Coroner Ken Bacha thinks it would be unwise and expensive to switch to a medical examiner system in Westmoreland County.

"That cost would be outrageous," said Bacha, who was elected last year to replace his retiring father.

The county uses a company owned by Dr. Cyril Wecht, the Allegheny County coroner, to do autopsies and toxicology reports. Bacha, a former part-time deputy coroner and licensed funeral home director, said that arrangement should continue.

"To get someone qualified, you would have to double or triple the salary of what a row officer gets. Then you would have to have an updated facility to do the work. We would need to improve the county's morgue."

The county would have to separately pay a scientist to do the blood work needed for autopsies. That would require hiring someone or signing a contract with a company.

"When the medical examiner would be on vacation, you would still have to contract out," Bacha said.

All of that would greatly add to the expense but not necessarily the efficiency of the coroner's office, he said.

Bacha, who is a Democrat, hasn't met with county commissioners to talk about his office budget, but he wants a positive relationship to continue.

Commissioner Chairman Tom Balya, a Democrat, said he still opposes a switch to a medical examiner.

"We really don't have the volume of high crime that a really urbanized county has, so we don't need it," he said.

"We don't need a medical examiner," Commissioner Tom Ceraso said.

"There would be no advantage for us. And our district attorney has confidence in Cyril Wecht as an expert witness. We don't have to do a second autopsy to get an expert opinion on a case," said Ceraso, a New Kensington Democrat.

Commissioner P. Scott Conner, a Republican, is no longer interested in investigating if a medical examiner system would be better for the county, said spokesman Tom Aikens.

GREENSBURG: Westmoreland County's coroner has permission to share an Allegheny County idea.

Newly-elected coroner Ken Bacha, 40, said last week he is preparing a booklet to help survivors confronted by the sudden death of a relative involving the coroner's office.

The publication, which will be similar to an Allegheny County's "Coroner's Survivor's Guide," will list contacts within the Westmoreland County District Attorney's victim services office, grief counselors and companies that help with home cleanup.

"You don't find that in regular directories," Bacha said.

The guide will list a contact for sudden infant death syndrome and the Caring Place, which helps youngsters and families deal with grief.

"This will be a reference guide... what to do and not to do. We're not counselors, psychologists or psychologists. But we want to provide as much service as we can," Bacha said.

Joe Dominick of the Allegheny County coroner's office, said he talked with Bacha about using its version that has been issued to survivors for about a year.

He said Allegheny County likes the idea of the guide being used by Westmoreland. "We feel this is actually quite an honor," he said.