Medical examiner to return to duties following Prosecutor΄s intervention
medical examiner
17 Jul 2019
/ 06:38
CORFU. Bereaved families have had to bear additional suffering recently due to problems with the official Medical Examiner cooperating with the hospital as regards autopsies.
The medical examiner, an employee of the Ministry of Justice, is obliged to work together with the hospital's examiner - something which he refused to do even though he had been given an official order to take up his duties at Corfu Hospital on Monday following sick leave. As a result bereaved families could not bury their dead as autopsies needed to be carried out.
In the end a solution was found - the hospital was forced to go to the Prosecutor and she ordered the medical examiner to return to his duties.
Hospital Director Phivos Kakavits posted the following: "Fortunately, the problem has been solved - even though it had to be done this way after two agonising days, especially for the bereaved families...
For the last three years, due to the lack of a Ministry of Justice Medical Examiner, the hospital has had to employ its own medical examiner. In fact, three months ago, so that there wouldn't be a period without an examiner, the position was advertised well before the end of the previous examiner's contract and so the hospital didn't go even one day without an examiner.
It goes without saying that based on the protocol signed in 2017 that the assistant examiner (an employee of the Ministry of Justice, not the hospital) is duty-bound to work with the hospital's medical examiner. This was made clear in the official order given to the employee and his supervisory administration (Patras Medical Examiners Service) following the request from Corfu Hospital two weeks ago.
It is often the case that what should go without saying becomes very complicated.
On behalf of the hospital I would like to stress that we will ensure that, in collaboration with the other services involved, the Corfu public will continue to be served."
In the end a solution was found - the hospital was forced to go to the Prosecutor and she ordered the medical examiner to return to his duties.
Hospital Director Phivos Kakavits posted the following: "Fortunately, the problem has been solved - even though it had to be done this way after two agonising days, especially for the bereaved families...
For the last three years, due to the lack of a Ministry of Justice Medical Examiner, the hospital has had to employ its own medical examiner. In fact, three months ago, so that there wouldn't be a period without an examiner, the position was advertised well before the end of the previous examiner's contract and so the hospital didn't go even one day without an examiner.
It goes without saying that based on the protocol signed in 2017 that the assistant examiner (an employee of the Ministry of Justice, not the hospital) is duty-bound to work with the hospital's medical examiner. This was made clear in the official order given to the employee and his supervisory administration (Patras Medical Examiners Service) following the request from Corfu Hospital two weeks ago.
It is often the case that what should go without saying becomes very complicated.
On behalf of the hospital I would like to stress that we will ensure that, in collaboration with the other services involved, the Corfu public will continue to be served."
