Globe and Mail- Staff shortages, larger case loads causing Alberta medical examiner’s office to fall far behind
The annual report, which covers April 1, 2023, to March 31, concluded that a steady increase in cases since 2020, driven in part by COVID-19 and record-high drug poisonings, has created the backlog. Death investigations are now taking, on average, nine months to complete. Any case that has not been completed within nine months is considered part of the backlog.
“I see dead people.”
Guess the province will slide some dough to their bros in the restaurant supply industry for a bunch of new freezers. What a great time to be a salesman, eh?
Don’t be silly. The delay is simply because all the ME’s are still “working from home” because of COVID and fear of other humans. ME’s are pretty much whack jobs as it is … but COVID has only amplified their oddities. A little extra refrigeration won’t damage the corpse such that no clear cause of death can be determined. Nahhhh … don’t worry … they won’t freezer-burn dead people. Nahhhh.