Hospice Board Rebukes County Coroner His Attitude Makes Their Job Harder, Letter To Amend Contends
Spokane hospice board members are rebuking the county coroner for traumatizing families whose loved ones die, claiming his attitude is making their job harder.
Hospice of Spokane, in a letter made public Monday, also offers to teach Dr. Dexter Amend, the county coroner, how to treat the bereaved people he routinely encounters.
Incensed over two recent incidents, the board members also sent copies of their letter to Gov. Mike Lowry and state and local health officials.
Lowry ordered the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission in September to investigate complaints against Amend.
Fifteen hospice board members signed the three-page letter asking Amend to meet and talk about dealing with bereaved families.
The coroner notified one woman of her son’s death by leaving a message on her answering machine, then called her five times in one day to quiz her about his friends and his lifestyle, according to the hospice letter. Finally, the woman hung up on Amend.
Amend, through an office worker, refused to comment.
In their Dec. 8 letter, board members said the coroner so upset one family that hospice workers spent many extra hours counseling relatives.
“Do not add to the grief people are experiencing after the death of a family member,” states the letter. “This is not the way the citizens of this community should experience the death of a family member.”
Anger toward the coroner distracts bereaved people from their grief, said Anne Koepsell, Hospice of Spokane executive director. “Any trauma makes it difficult to resolve your grief.”
Hospice workers were incensed when Amend requested an autopsy of a gay client who died from AIDS-related complications in November.
The coroner delayed Curtis Babcock’s cremation and memorial service for days, when doctors already knew how the 39-year-old cosmetologist died, Koepsell said.
Forensic pathologist Dr. George Lindholm refused to do the autopsy, calling it an unnecessary invasion of privacy.
By then, Babcock’s family had so little trust in Amend, they watched the cremation to ensure the coroner didn’t tamper with the body.
Hospice workers set up extra counseling sessions for family members, who were traumatized and angry with Amend, Koepsell said. “They were so stressed by the whole situation - much beyond normal grief.”
In passing on Amend’s refusal to comment, secretary Anne Frank said, “We have those other lawsuits pending and the attorneys have told him to (say), ‘no comment.”’
Amend is named in a suit filed by the wife of AIDS patient Mario Lozada, who died in jail in September. Amend said a drug overdose killed Lozada, while the doctor who did the autopsy blamed his death on “restraint asphyxiation.”
He faces another lawsuit filed by a former office worker who says the Republican coroner fired her because she’s a Democrat.
A grass-roots group has been trying to recall Amend since he tried to link Rachel Carver’s murder with homosexuality when an autopsy showed she had been sodomized in the past. Her uncle later confessed to the killing.
“What we’re hoping is that he’ll cease and desist this kind of behavior,” said Romel Mackelprang, a social work professor at Eastern Washington University who serves on Hospice’s board.
“We’d love to help him to modify what he’s doing so he can be more humane in how he’s working with our people.”
, DataTimes