VI DOJ Projects New Medical Examiner’s Office for STX by Year’s End

Until then, Attorney General Denise George told lawmakers, during a budget hearing on Aug 22nd, that the Office of the Medical Examiner will conduct all autopsies on St. Thomas until the completion of the modular, “turn-key” facility by the end of December.

“I am hopeful it would be way before then,” said AG George. “We need it as soon as possible.”

The VIDOJ established its first morgue and autopsy facility in July 2021 on St. Thomas. At the time, the Attorney General also made her case for a similar facility on St. Croix. On St. Croix, the DOJ utilized facilities at the Juan F. Luis Hospital.

In October 2020, the DOJ learned that it would have to vacate its operations at the Juan F. Luis hospital on St. Croix within 90 days. The JFL morgue was set to be demolished as part of JFL’s overall plans.

AG George, in a July press release, said that the DOJ shifted its autopsy operations to an unspecified funeral home based on the recommendations of the STX medical examiner at that time. The same medical examiner, Dr. Jacqueline Pender, resigned in June of this year and later made public the horrid conditions at the funeral home in an article published by the VI Consortium.

When it learned that the funeral home also proved an ineffective solution, based on Dr. Pender’s resignation, AG George said that the DOJ made the decision to conduct all further autopsies in St. Thomas.

“This is clearly a crisis here in the district of St. Croix,” said Sen. Javan E. James, who briefly cited the VI Consortium article during his line of questioning.

Since that time, the DOJ said it has conducted six autopsy transports to the medical examiner’s office in STT and absorbed the related costs.

According to representatives from the DOJ, it costs the agency approximately $950 to transport a body for autopsy to the island of St. Thomas with the return trip costing the same amount, which brings the total for each off-island autopsy coming to $1900 round-trip.

Lawmakers naturally tried to account for these expenditures given that the proceedings called for a budget examination, but representatives stressed a consideration for the families and friends involved with the funeral process.

Senator Franklin D. Johnson inquired about the overall time frame for this process in consideration of family concerns as they likely prepare final arrangements.

Despite rumors that the process can take several weeks, representatives from the DOJ said it takes one day for the transportation to STT and another for the procedure, at which point the body is immediately transported back to STX, which takes an additional day.

During the period in which the DOJ began conducting all autopsies in St. Thomas, only one of six cases had exceeded this general time frame for transportation and examination by the DOJ. That particular case related to a triple-homicide which had a delay due to the nature of the crime.

In spite of those timeframes, lawmakers remained concerned with proper preservation of the deceased and urged a solution for performing autopsies on St. Croix.