Lone bidder to get job transporting bodies

The farther away a body has to be hauled, the higher the county's cost.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Picking up bodies for delivery to autopsy facilities apparently isn't a job people are dying to get.
Only one company, Funeral Home Services Inc., bid to provide the service in Mahoning County. Commissioners were expected to vote today on awarding a contract to the Detroit Avenue firm.
James Fortunato, purchasing director, said the cost will be $120 per body, unless it has to be taken outside the area. The cost rises to $190 per removal to Akron, and to $390 if the body must be taken to Columbus.
The county contracts for bodies to be removed from death scenes and taken to the morgue at the former South Side Hospital, now known as the South Side Renaissance Center, said county Coroner David Kennedy.
If an autopsy is required, the body must be taken either to Akron or Columbus. Kennedy said about 125 autopsies are done each year, and an additional 100 bodies or so are taken to the morgue for observation and toxicology testing, then released to funeral homes without autopsies.
In years past, the county had a forensic pathologist in the coroner's office who conducted nearly all autopsies locally. However, the county has been without a forensic pathologist for a year now, and the position remains unfilled.
Pittsburgh doctor
Kennedy said in April that he had reached a tentative agreement with a Pittsburgh doctor to begin working here July 1. However, that arrangement has hit a snag, and it's no longer certain that the position will be filled soon.
Kennedy said the candidate has expressed reluctance to take a position where he would be the only forensic pathologist on staff. He has not, however, ruled out taking the job.
"I'm still working on it," Kennedy said.
In the meantime, bodies must be sent to Akron or Columbus for autopsies, at a cost of more than $1,000 apiece, plus the cost of transporting them there.
Kennedy said the transportation cost is for one-way service only, delivering bodies to the morgue or autopsy facility. Once the autopsy is finished, the cost of returning the body for burial is the responsibility of either the funeral home or the deceased person's family, he said.
Fortunato said the last time body removal services was bid was 2000. Funeral Home Services Inc., was the lone bidder that time as well, at a cost of $100 per removal. There were no costs for out-of-county deliveries because the county did its own autopsies at the time, he said.
Burden on families
County Administrator Gary Kubic said commissioners realize that sending bodies away for autopsies is a burden on families because it causes delays in the funeral and burial processes. Until a qualified candidate can be found to do autopsies locally, sending them out of town is the best option, he said.
Kubic said commissioners are mulling the possibility of creating a regional forensics center, where autopsies could be done locally.
bjackson@vindy.com