Has Changed Office Procedures To Prevent A Similar Mistake

The Coroner in Montgomery County, Ohio says no one will be disciplined due to an incident in which the bodies of two men involved in a plane crash were misidentified and sent to the wrong families. One of the bodies was cremated and the other placed in a mausoleum.

Radio station WHIO reports that Coroner Dr. James Davis says the mixup was a "perfect storm" which had never happened before. He had initially said one or more employees would be disciplined after the incident, but sent an e-mail to the Dayton Daily News which said he had changed office procedures to prevent a repeat of the mistake, but had not disciplined anyone.

The victims were Arthur Potter of Greenwood, IN, and Frank Granato from Carmel, IN. They were aboard a two place airplane when it went down in rural Union county in Ohio. The coroner in Union county got their wallets mixed up at the scene, and that caused the bodies to be mis-identified when they were sent to Montgomery County for autopsy.

Dr. Davis said there was no violation of procedure in his office, because the wallets were switched at the scene by personnel from another agency.

FMI: www.mcohio.org/government/coroner