INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Coroner's Office is getting additional funding. Monday night, the City-County Council unanimously approved an additional $275,000 to the coroner's 2020 budget.
The money will help pay for extra staff and personal protective equipment. The pandemic is contributing to an overwhelming workload for the MCCO, and last week Chief Deputy Coroner Alfie McGinty told WRTV that investigators are used to handling about 150 cases through this time of year. Most are at more than 350 already.
"You cannot conduct that many investigations and there not be errors," McGinty said. "And we are not able to keep up with serving the community, with providing autopsy reports and death certificates and those kinds of things, and so it causes a backlog."
McGinty says in addition to COVID-19 deaths, the coroner's officer is dealing with a significant increase in cases across the board, including homicides, overdoses, suicides, and natural deaths.
