The Future of the County Coroner is a vote away

MCHENRY – Have you decided yet on whether the McHenry County Coroner should remain as an elected position or be appointed as a full-time medical examiner? The good news is that you have a little more than eight months to decide.

Before you read the pros and cons of the coroner versus medical examiner position from representatives of both sides of the argument, perhaps it’s best to understand why the November 3 referendum should matter.

For those of us who’ve lost a loved one, we turn to the coroner’s office for a certification of death. We receive a death certificate that allows us to have the official cause of death. We can present the death certificate for life insurance purposes, trusts, and investments as official proof of death. If a doctor can’t determine the medical cause of death, a coroner may order a post-mortem known as an autopsy.

On November 3, voters in McHenry County will decide whether to abolish the position of an elected coroner for an appointed medical examiner.

The question of changing the structure of the McHenry County Coroner’s Office isn’t simply raised for the sake of raising the question. After the last coroner left for medical reasons, two evaluations were completed on the coroner’s office, determining the office needed improvements in security and maintenance, but also touched on giving voters a chance to determine whether the future of the coroner’s office would be elected or appointed.

The League of Women Voters contacted McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks and Kendall County Coroner Jacqui Purcell and brought them together for a forum at McHenry County College. Franks and Purcell presented what they believed were solid arguments for either keeping intact the coroner system or changing the system in favor of hiring a forensic pathologist as a medical examiner. Dozens of people gathered at McHenry County College for a peak into the insight of the Kendall County Coroner and McHenry County Board Chairman.

Franks presented an argument for a medical professional appointed by the McHenry County Board. Purcell presented the argument for keeping the status quo of the registered voters electing a coroner. Franks and Purcell were each given four minutes by the League of Women Voters.

“I’m going to be blunt, the office of coroner is broken after decades of mismanagement. Thousands upon thousands of prescription drugs taken from the deceased lie in the open, unsecured. Tissue samples were stored in a broken residential refrigerator,” Franks said.

These problems, Franks pointed out were listed in two separate reports. Franks threw a bit of history into his argument.

“Electing a coroner is a throwback to when Illinois first became a state. More than two centuries later, we are still choosing a coroner the same way we did when McHenry County was settled by the pioneers and horse-drawn wagons,” he said.

Purcell’s four minutes on the independence of outside influence called for an elected coroner.

“In 1920, we celebrated women’s right to vote and 100 years later, there’s an effort to take that vote away from the people. It feels like we are going in the wrong direction,” she said.

Purcell asked voters to keep an elected coroner. In a candid moment during her four minutes, Purcell told the audience at MCC that she favors a regional medical examiner system. However, she believes the only way to move toward a regional medical examiner system is through statewide change, not county by county. For what voters in McHenry County are asked to consider right now a regional medical examiner is not part of the discussion.

In his closing remarks, Franks reminded voters of their opportunity to change the way they are governed and to fix it.

“Don’t be swayed by those who have a vested or financial interest in keeping a broken system in place. I encourage you to professionalize the office and vote to get rid of this office, starting November 30 of this year, and give taxpayers what they deserve,” he said.

Purcell closed with an assertion that you can’t have a forensic pathologist as your coroner here.

“No forensic pathologist would do it because they would be limited in the autopsies they can perform. I think that what we want is a coroner’s office that can run efficiently, fulfill its duties…that can do the things it needs to do as far as doing these independent investigations, independent of the county board, independent of undue influence.”

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