Coroner, Group Make Amends Team Will Now Have Access To Records On Child Deaths

Spokane County Coroner Dexter Amend is mending fences with a team that reviews child deaths, six months after he quit in anger.

“The way it sounds now, he will be returning to the table,” said Dr. Paul Stepak, who heads the committee and held peace talks with Amend on Wednesday.

“I didn’t have to beg or chew his shoelaces and he didn’t have to eat humble pie,” Stepak said.

Amend didn’t return a call to his home for comment. Through his wife, he said he and Stepak are “in complete accord.”

Amend’s return means the committee will have access to information from the coroner’s office - essential in learning how children in Spokane County die and trying to prevent similar deaths, Stepak said.

Doctors hope the data will help them complete a book on 1995 child deaths. “It’ll take a scramble,” Stepak said.

Last week, the president of the Spokane County Medical Society publicly chided Amend for quitting the review team in September.

Members said he stopped attending meetings because Dr. John Beare, head of the county health district, expressed a lack of confidence in how Amend filled out death certificates.

Police, prosecutors, doctors and social workers also participate in the Spokane County Child Death Review Committee. They try to prevent child deaths and make sure emergency and medical systems are working smoothly.

The coroner routinely has added critical information, such as death certificates and medical records other members can’t get.

Dr. Phil Werschler, the medical society president, said Amend’s absence could invite more litigation, possibly from families of children who die.

County Commissioner Steve Hasson said last week he is worried about the growing number of lawsuits and claims against Amend. The taxpayers’ bill for defending Amend is nearing $45,000 and Hasson said he planned to meet with Amend to discuss making the coroner pay his own legal bills.

, DataTimes