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City memo: Wasted time, taxpayer money at medical examiner's office

More accusations of wasted time and money at the medical examiners office. The search committee for the next ME went over a 60 page memo from the city detailing well-documented issues in that office Wednesday.
Low employee morale, lost work time, excessive case load, and 301 incomplete cases older than 90 days were just some of the issues detailed in the memo.
"If you have a very large number, then of course that becomes more concerning," Dr. Steven Vega with the state medical examiner's commission tells our partner Action News.
The first complaints about the office and medical examiner Dr. Valerie Rao first surfaced in June...One former employee told Action News Dr. Rao was the reason she left her job there.
"It was horrible. You never knew what was going to come out of her mouth," Laurie Weinstein said in a June interview.
The search committee has to interview the six applicants for the medical examiner position but could still submit Dr. Rao's name for reappointment.
"Getting the right person to run an office is extremely important," says Dr. Vega. "Hopefully that person will do the best they can to improve the conditions for the whole office."
Dr. Vega would not say whether or not he felt Dr. Rao was the right person to continue running the office. Governor Scott will make the final decision but that might not happen until at least May.

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