Homicide ruling a mistake, expert says

October 9, 2004

By Ron Bain

The Daily Sentinel

Montrose County Coroner Mark Young made a mistake in ruling the Sept. 26 death of organ donor William T. Rardin was a homicide, Arapahoe County Coroner Mike Dobersen said Friday.

Dobersen, also the president of the Colorado Coroners Association, chaired a multidisciplinary review panel of forensic pathologists, attorneys and organ transplantation specialists that met Friday in Denver to review the homicide ruling issued Monday by Young.

"The system tends to work pretty well, but unfortunately we don't have control over everyone, and we do have aberrations that take place every now and then like what happened out in Montrose," Dobersen said. "And it was just an unfortunate thing that (Young) kind of went off the deep end without consulting with some people."

Young ruled Rardin's death was a homicide, alleging St. Mary's Hospital of Grand Junction harvested the 31-year-old Montrose man's organs before brain death was certified according to accepted medical standards.

Rardin had been taken to Montrose Memorial Hospital on Sept. 26 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Rardin was transferred to St. Mary's Hospital, where he was declared brain dead.

After Mesa County Coroner Rob Kurtzman conducted an autopsy with Young in attendance, jurisdiction over the case was transferred back to Montrose County for Young to rule on the results.

Young has a paramedic's certification but is not a forensic pathologist, and Dobersen said that is an issue that needs to be addressed statewide.

There are many disparities in the qualifications of the people who hold the position of coroner in Colorado's 64 counties, Dobersen said, but there's also a backup system meant to correct mistakes made by elected coroners such as Young.

"Ideally, what you want is a medical examiner situation where we've got a forensic pathologist that's the head of it," Dobersen said.

In Colorado, there are only 12 forensic pathologists, "the most medically qualified to" hold coroner and medical examiner positions, holding those positions, according to Dobersen. Nationally, there are only 420 forensic pathologists holding such positions, he said.

Colorado has a "regional medical examiner system" that provides professional expertise to the state's citizen coroners when needed, Dobersen said.

"It's not technically a medical examiner system, but at least it is a system where everyone is tied in with a forensic pathologist," Dobersen said.

The results of the review panel's findings were provided to 7th Judicial District Attorney Tom Raynes on Friday afternoon.

"My intent is to take the three-day weekend and review their findings, and then make a statement next Tuesday," Raynes said.

Ron Bain can be reached via e-mail at rbain@gjds.com.

Copyright © 2004 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - The Daily Sentinel

This article posted November 7, 2004.