In the old days, the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office automatically refused to accommodate organ donor requests if there was a chance the deceased would be involved in a homicide investigation requiring body evidence collection, said county Coroner William Lisman. Lisman, a veteran coroner worker, wanted to try to satisfy both needs when he started overseeing the coroner’s office in January 2012. Working with the pathologist who performs autopsies and county District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, Lisman gave the go-ahead for viable organs to be removed in around seven suspicious motor vehicle and shooting cases on the condition evidence of head trauma and bruising and other injuries on the skin and bones was left intact, he said. He’s concerned proposed state legislation involving organ donations will shift the balance to another extreme, putting efforts to remove organs over gathering documentation needed for criminal investigations. The legislation, to be called the Donate Life PA Act, would “override” coroner investigations into the cause and manner of violent or suspicious deaths and “drastically” impact coroners’ ability to collect evidence in homicide and other wrongful death cases, the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association said in a statement shared by Lisman and many of his colleagues across the state. “If the evidence hasn’t been properly investigated in drug deaths, sufficient to meet the demands of the judicial system, the ability to prosecute drug dealers will be severely impacted,” the association said.
Comment on Proposed organ donor legislation concerns Luzerne County Coroner
timesleader, The Times Leader
Wed, 09/28/2016 - 4:14pm
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