Woman says current County medical examiner office not legal as currently set up

Four years after her husband’s death Elizabeth Burleson is battling the El Paso County Commissioners Court over their current medical examiner, saying if changes aren’t made hundreds of court cases could be overturned and create a damaging ripple-effect.

Her husband, who died of complications from a staph infection that developed after a car crash, held several life insurance policies including one which has not been paid out. Burleson said it has not been paid out because the death certificate was written by the Chief Medical Examiner at the time Paul Schrode.

In 2008 Schrode listed the reason for Burleson’s husband’s death as undetermined, which prevented an insurance payoff. That drove Burleson to research the law, which she believes shows El Paso County has been improperly running its Medical Examiner’s Office for years allowing for a potentially devestating issue where all work done by medical examiners could be thrown out of court cases including high profile criminal cases.

According to Burleson, the Office of the Medical Examiner is meant to be a judicial position and as a result all autopsies performed over the past two years won’t hold up in court if challenged because Juan Contin, the interim Medical Examiner who took over for Schrode two years ago, is an independent contractor per his physicians contract.

“This being the case, each and every death certificate signed by Contin constitutes a third degree felony and are void,” said Burleson. “This holds true for any county records Contin produced and filed without statutory authority, including death certificates.”

According to an article by the Houston Community Newspapers, a similar argument has been made twice in a Harris County courtroom in the past year.

On Monday, the Court decided to advertise for a Deputy Medical Examiner position that has been on hold for several months. A position Burleson claims couldn’t be made legal without a lawful Chief Medical Examiner in office.

Commissioners, and members of the County Attorney’s office, discussed the matter and concluded since a position wouldn’t be actively filled on this day they could move forward with their plan for the time being.

Sergio Lewis, one of the newest Commissioners, pointed out concerns over the information Burleson brought before the court asking for more information to be presented by the County Attorney during next week’s session