Death certificate backlog, conflict of interest are main issues in Chatham County coroner's race

This election, three Chatham County Coroner candidates are challenging incumbent David Campbell Sr., who took office on Jan. 1, 2021.

Two of the three challengers, Democrats James Vernard Flowers and Charles O’Berry, have called into question Campbell’s ownership of a funeral home while he is serving as the elected coroner. A third challenger, Republican Tiffany Williams, alleged that she quit the Coroner’s Office, where she worked for about 20 years, due to a disagreement with Campbell.

Each of the three challengers are running on a platform to reduce the death certificate backlog.

Conflicting backlog causes cited by Campbell and GBI

Campbell said during his tenure that he has reduced the death certificate backlog to 30 days ― much shorter than the multiple months it was before he took office and much shorter than the other candidates allege. Before he took office, Campbell said the death certificate backlog was "months, months, months."

He attributed the continuing backlog to bottlenecks in the reporting process, the lack of medical examiners in the state, persistent staffing shortages and delays obtaining medical records.

Georgia Code 31-10-15 dictates that the “funeral director or person acting as such who first assumes custody of the dead body shall file the certificate of death within 72 hours.”

There are two points in the death certificate process, Campbell explained, where the backlog visibly increases.

The first occurs when obtaining the medical records to prove the cause of death. Soon after a death occurs, Campbell said, either he or one of his four deputy coroners will arrive at the scene ― something that he said his predecessors often failed to do. Then, the Coroner’s Office must subpoena the medical records and go to the hospital to check the body, then write a report, Campbell explained.

“All hospitals use a third party. So, they want to mail them in,” said Campbell. “There are some that, at some point in time, we can call, and they will go ahead and fax us over medical records. But that's very rare. But we've been having to wait [for] the mail. So, that slows it down.”

In an email, Bryna Gordon, director of public relations and communications for Memorial Health, declined to comment on Campbell's assertion.

Scott Larson, public relations and digital manager for St. Joseph’s/Candler, issued a statement via email:

“St. Joseph’s/Candler values our relationship with the Chatham County Coroner’s Office not to mention the families whose loved ones have passed. We process requests for information as quickly as possible, which is usually within two or three days. We always have the option of faxing or emailing any medical records requests made to us with authorization.”

Another one of the main issues, Campbell explained, is that toxicology and autopsy reports conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) "take months."

“We don’t never ever make a promise to a family of when the death certificate will be ready,” said Campbell. “We just told them it takes months.”

Campbell partly attributed the GBI backlog to a lack of medical examiners in Georgia. None of the four coroner candidates, including Campbell, are certified medical examiners, which requires a medical degree and certification by the American Board of Pathology in forensic pathology.

More: Four candidates are vying for Chatham Coroner. Who are they? What are their platforms?

Campbell also attributed the death certificate backlog to a lack of staffing. "But we getting the job done."

However, in an email, GBI Director of Office Public and Governmental Affairs Nelly Miles said, “GBI does not sign death certificates except in rare occasions when no county coroner’s office is involved in the case at hand.”

The information needed from the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office by the coroners’ offices to complete the death certificate is the cause of death (COD) and manner of death (MOD), both of which are often released before the autopsy report is complete, explained Miles.

In nearly all cases, the COD and MOD have been provided to the Chatham County Coroner’s Office, according to statistics sent by the GBI. (The Savannah Morning News made an open records request to the Chatham County Coroner’s Office for statistics related to the death certificate backlog to provide comparison, but had not received them by publication time.)

Of the 916 total autopsies performed by the GBI from 2021 through 2023, 873 have had their causes of death and manners of death provided to the Chatham County Coroner’s Office, or 95.3%.

However, it typically takes longer for the GBI to send COD, MOD and autopsy reports to the Chatham County Coroner’s Office than other coroner’s offices statewide, according to GBI statistics.

The average turnaround time for the COD and MOD statewide is about 66 days, while the same figure for Chatham County is about 87 days. The average turnaround time for autopsy reports statewide is about 99 days, while the same figure for Chatham County is about 138 days.

On Dec. 11, 2023, Campbell reached out to the GBI Coastal Medical Examiner Office staff and “advised that he was not getting all of the COD/MOD information passed on from his deputy coroners,” according to Miles’ email.

From that point forward, the GBI Coastal Medical Examiner Office began emailing the COD and MOD to Campbell and the Deputy Coroner who reported the call. The GBI Coastal Medical Examiner Office also “made an offer to provide Chatham County Coroner’s Office with a list of all of the previously provided COD/MOD information for 2022/2023 so they could get caught up but did not hear back on that offer.

“Our Coastal MEO has received calls from family members who advise that Coroner Campbell will not provide them death certificates on cases that we have already completed,” Miles’ email reads.

Annual training and an email attached to the COD and MOD information, both of which were provided to Campbell, clarified that the GBI autopsy report is not needed to complete the death certificate, and the COD and MOD could be released before the autopsy report is completed, according to Miles’ email.

Chatham County does not employ a full-time medical examiner, and if foul play is suspected, law enforcement will request a medical examination by the GBI to perform an autopsy. Chatham County relies entirely on the GBI for autopsies related to criminal investigations, because the county's coroner is an elected position and is not required to be a licensed medical professional, although the coroner must take a basic training course provided by the Georgia Police Academy.

GBI employs only 12 medical examiners for the entire state ― at full staffing, the agency would have 19 medical examiners. The GBI has no full-time medical examiner in its coastal office “but [is] covering with rotating doctors from Headquarters and one part-time medical examiner,” said Miles. A full-time medical examiner is scheduled to start at the GBI Coastal Office on June 1.

Candidates and other funeral home employees allege conflict of interest

Of the 11 funeral homes operating in Chatham County, four funeral home owners or directors allege that Campbell’s funeral home business has benefited from his position as elected coroner. Of those four funeral home employees, two are running for coroner. Of the 11 funeral homes, two returned a phone call from SMN for comment; nine did not.

If elected coroner, Flowers said he would continue owning the Sylvania Funeral Home, but he said he would implement guardrails to mitigate potential conflicts of interest.

“Of course, I will still own my own funeral home because nothing will change,” Flowers wrote in an email. “We have a full staff that is qualified and certified, trained to run daily operations along with my son and wife as we do now.”

For example, Flowers said he would consider making an employee from each funeral home a deputy coroner.

According to records obtained by SMN from Chatham County and Campbell and Sons Funeral Home’s website, two of the three Chatham County deputy coroners are also employed by the Campbell and Sons Funeral Home.

“I don’t want to be coroner to gain anything from being a coroner,” said Flowers.

If elected coroner, Flowers said he would tell the responding police officer to ask the victim’s family which funeral home they would like to use before he or the deputy coroner arrived on scene. Then, he said he’d contact the chosen funeral home to have them meet him at the scene of the death.

Meanwhile, O'Berry said that if elected coroner he would stop working at Adams Funeral Services. “That’s why my campaign states ‘fully committed.’ And that’s what the coroner’s office needs. Right now, it’s just not that, and it’s causing issues.”

O’Berry explained, “It’s a conflict of interest that our coroner owns a funeral home. With the funeral homes, there’s a conflict of interest around families, bodies, and business-wise, that’s personal business with the Chatham County Coroner’s Office. I want to bring something different, that the Chatham County Coroner’s Office has nothing to do with a funeral.”

“It’s been affecting us a lot,” Tommy Flanders, owner of Flanders Powell Funeral Home & Crematory, said in a phone call. “Business hasn’t been affected, just the ability to get death certificates has been affected.” Flanders added that the funeral home has had death certificates “waiting for weeks,” but he can’t figure out why.

Georgia Code 31-10-15 dictates that, “If the cause of death cannot be determined within 48 hours after death, the medical certification shall be completed as provided by regulation. The attending physician or coroner shall give the funeral director or person acting as such notice of the reason for the delay, and final disposition of the body shall not be made until authorized by the attending physician, coroner, or medical examiner.”

“My take on it is this, me personally, I do not believe that a funeral director should be a coroner because of the conflict of interest,” said a director of Bonaventure Funeral Home, who declined to provide their name due to fear of retaliation from the coroner. “For the simple reason that he or she is the first person basically on the scene, and your presence can manipulate the family to use your services.”

This same director claimed case volume has increased for Campbell and Sons in the four years since Campbell has been coroner. “I wouldn’t say [business] has gotten worse, it’s just the fact that all of the funeral homes are suffering from the lack of transparency.”

The director added that the death certificate backlog has increased since Campbell has taken office. The insurance provider won’t complete a claim until a cause of death is determined on the death certificate, the director explained, so they haven’t been paid on “several cases” for “over a year now.”

“We didn’t have that problem with the Metts administration, we’ve never had that problem with the Dr. Wessinger administration, only during the time that Mr. Campbell is in the Coroner’s Office.”

Campbell denies conflict of interest concerns

Campbell, however, denied the claims there is a conflict of interest between serving as coroner and owning a funeral home.

Campbell said he has “made it plain and clear” to his deputy coroners that “we don’t recommend [to the victim’s family] a funeral home,” and the coroner's office “always suggest to [the victim's family] google funeral homes in Chatham County.”

Then, Campbell said, he or his deputy coroners typically ask the police officers to ask the victim’s family to see what funeral home they want to use.

“My business is based on service,” said Campbell. “My business is not based on solicitation.”

Since he took office, Campbell's son has started managing the funeral home business. “I don’t even worry about my funeral home,” said Campbell. “I spend most of my time here.”

He also countered that his role as funeral home owner actually helps him as coroner. Campbell cited an event on Oct. 26, 2022, when he and his coroner staff buried more than 500 people’s previously unclaimed cremains.

“I utilized my funeral director's professionalism and service and time to coordinate that and to do mass burials,” said Campbell.

Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Conflicts of interest alleged in Chatham County coroner's race