County hires forensic doctor

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners have hired Dr. Joseph S. Ohr as forensic pathologist and deputy coroner.

The pathologist began work here Wednesday and was formally hired by the commissioners Thursday at a $125,000 annual salary.

A Boardman native, Dr. Ohr was most recently a forensic pathologist in the Franklin County Coroner’s Office in Columbus.

Dr. Ohr completed his fellowship in forensic pathology at the Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office in Florida.

“He interviewed extremely well,” said Dr. David M. Kennedy, Mahoning County coroner. Dr. Ohr appears to have good oral and written communication skills and came here with a good recommendation from his former employer in Columbus, Dr. Kennedy said.

For his new full-time job, Dr. Ohr was chosen from a pool of six candidates. He will perform at least 150 autopsies annually, write reports, issue rulings on the cause and manner of death and testify about his findings in court.

Employing a forensic pathologist here eliminates the extra cost, delays and inconvenience associated with sending bodies to Cleveland for autopsies, Dr. Kennedy said.

“You just want to avoid having the inconvenience to the families and to our staff of having to ship bodies to Cleveland or Pittsburgh for autopsies,” agreed John A. McNally IV, county commissioner.

Dr. Ohr’s predecessor, Dr. Robert C. Belding, was Mahoning County’s forensic pathologist for four years, earning $115,669 annually when he left at the end of 2007 for a higher-paying job in Virginia.

After Dr. Belding left, the position here was vacant for more than 13 months because of the shortage of applicants at the relatively low salary Mahoning County pays, Dr. Kennedy said.

In Dayton, for example, forensic pathologists earn $140,000 to $180,000 a year, but each of them performs at least 250 autopsies annually, Dr. Kennedy noted.