(ROBERTSDALE, Ala.) - The Baldwin County Coroners Office said it's facing a backlog of death cases due to backups with toxicology tests.
Coroner Stan Vinson told LOCAL 15 News Wednesday he guesses about 100 cases are still open in Baldwin County. Vinson said it's taking months for forensic scientists to complete toxicology tests.
It comes down to state funding. Vinson said coroners across the state are dealing with the same backups.
One of those cases still open in Baldwin County is the death of a three-week-old girl in Perdido. The infant child was found unresponsive in her crib.
Baldwin County Sheriff's Deputies said they found the home in deplorable condition, the child showing a severe case of diaper rash.
"I didn't see any evidence of any trauma," Vinson said. "Anything to be found, at this point, is going to be in toxicology."
Vinson said the infant's blood tests have been sent to a forensics lab in Hoover, along with dozens of other cases, that used to be done in Mobile County.
"Unfortunately, with the budget cuts," Vinson said, "they don't have the money to farm any of this stuff out. So, instead of getting smaller, the backlog is getting larger."
Vinson said he is just getting some blood work back from April, when last year, many toxicology tests took just 10 days to complete. It is a problem, he said, that is leaving families and investigators in the dark.
"We're not going to jump the gun and sign out something, sign a case out not knowing for sure what it is," Vinson said. "The pathologists do the autopsies. They are not going to issue their report until they get all the tests back."
Vinson said it is also causing families headaches with insurance companies.
"Families waiting on insurance money for burial, or the main bread winner of the family has passed away," Vinson said. "Insurance companies, normally, will not take a death certificate unless it has a cause and manner of death.
"We can issue a death certificate, but it's going to say pending. A lot of them won't accept that. Until we can work out some solution to the problem it's only going to get worse."
He said one county is having problems finding the money for body bags.
