'Last voice of the dead.' Stark coroner hopes new CT scanner can help investigate deaths

CANTON TWP. – The Stark County Coroner's Office has had over 180 cases so far this year. They expect that number to reach 600 by the end of 2024.

Bodies come to the office for investigation when the cause and manner of death is uncertain, unnatural or unexpected. Employees perform external body exams and toxicology tests to investigate the cause and manner of death.

The Stark County office has been without a forensic pathologist since late 2020. Stark County Coroner Ron Rusnak said they are still trying to hire one, but the high demand makes it difficult.

"It's a national shortage," he said. "It's hard because of the competition ... [other counties] can pay a lot more."

Only about 12 of Ohio's 88 counties have forensic pathologists, according to the Ohio State Coroners Association.

More: Search for new forensic pathologist for Stark County stalled

Without a forensic pathologist, bodies that need autopsied are sent to Cuyahoga County for examination.

This year, Stark County is purchasing a postmortem CT scanner with hopes it will help determine the cause of death and lighten the load at the office.

'Eyes inside the body'

The CT scanner will be the only tool the Coroner's Office has to examine bodies internally.

"We're the last voice of the dead," Rusnak said. "There's a number of people that want more answers. ... This postmortem CT scan would be the eyes inside the body."

He said there are several cases where the CT scanner can help in ruling on cause and manner of death, such as in deaths related to observable trauma injuries, unknown tumors or internal bleeds.

"We'll get an overview of the whole body," Rusnak said. "If we see something on that scout view, then we can do a more detailed scan of the specific areas."

He plans to scan nearly every body that comes in the office.

Only a handful of county coroners in Ohio have CT scanners.

The Franklin County Coroner's Office got its in 2020.

Jena Peters, a pathologists' assistant at the office, said having the CT has helped with the workload by ruling out causes of death, sometimes superseding the need for an autopsy.

"It's really useful as a triage tool for us," she said.

The scanner is also useful in cases where the family of the deceased object to an autopsy for religious or nonreligious reasons, said Franklin County morgue supervisor Erika Wrigley.

"We can do the CT scan and through that ... you can see if they fell and bled out in their head, if they had any fractures, if there's any traumatic injuries, we can confirm even heart disease," she said. "We're trying the best that we can to honor their wishes, but also make it so that we can give them the appropriate cause and manner of death."

There are some limitations to the CT scanner. Wrigley said they are unable to scan people of a certain weight if their body does not fit inside the machine. They have also seen a small number of cases where people have a lot of metal in their body and it obscures the images.

Andrea Hatten, chief administrator for the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, which got its CT scanner in 2021, said in an email there is sometimes difficulty interpreting CT scans if the findings are more subtle, and performing a CT scan can be time consuming during the body preparation process.

Hamilton County uses its CT scanner every day, for cases that are external examinations only or as requested by the examining pathologist. Hatten said having it has slightly reduced the amount of bodies that need autopsied.

Could the CT scanner save the county money?

Sending bodies to Cuyahoga County for autopsy is costly. It is $2,000 for each exam and $250 for transportation, Rusnak said.

Stark County sent 60 bodies to Cuyahoga for autopsy last year.

Once purchased, the CT scanner will be a cheaper alternative, Wrigley said.

"When you take into account the resources, personnel resources and the resources we utilize for autopsies, and in [Stark County's] case with transport and having to pay for an autopsy, it's going to be significantly less to operate the CT machine," she said.

The Siemens CT machine Stark County is purchasing is $338,400, plus maintenance costs.

The county may also be able to make money using the scanner. Some nearby counties have already expressed interest in using it for a fee.

Having the CT machine will not eliminate Stark County's need for autopsies. Ohio law requires an autopsy for a number of cases, such as deaths that occur in jail, baby deaths or if it is needed for a criminal investigation.

Cost of preparing the CT room

The Stark County commissioners have set aside $200,000 to equip the CT room.

In the recent renovation of the coroner's office in 2022, crews did some work to prepare the space. They enlarged the room by taking some space from the county records building next door.

The next steps for the room include lead lining all the walls to protect from radiation and reinforce the floor to support the weight of the scanner if necessary.

Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@gannett.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County coroner to get new CT scanner for death investigations