Officials in Idaho are drafting legislation to improve the state’s last-in-the-nation reputation when it comes to autopsies and death investigations.
A state report from 2024 found Idaho coroners conducted the fewest autopsies for both children and homicide cases in the country.
Coroners’ budgets are set by each county, with low wages and few, if any, staff. They also receive no oversight or guidance from the state level, according to that report.
Idaho law does not require coroners perform autopsies in any case, which contradicts national standards.
The task force made up of law enforcement and coroners studying Idaho’s death investigation system, which met Monday, is proposing mandating autopsies for children.
If approved, those additional procedures could add further bottlenecks and pressure points with only two pathology labs available in Ada and Canyon counties.
That means coroners elsewhere in the state have to drive their bodies sometimes hours away for an autopsy.
The task force proposed building a new lab in eastern Idaho to help ease that burden.
Some suggested partnering with hospitals. But Chief Deputy Ada County Coroner Brett Harding said during Monday’s meeting that those relationships can be strained by the job’s sometimes gritty nature.
“Every problem I’ve ever had with doing forensic autopsies in a hospital is one, cooler space; and two, the first time we bring a [decomposed body], they’re like, ‘We didn’t sign up for this,’ and we ended up getting booted out,” Harding said.
On top of making certain autopsies mandatory, a task force studying the issue is also hoping the state will kick in funding for personal protective equipment like gloves.
Matthew Gamette, who runs the Idaho State Police forensic lab, said ISP could help organize that effort.
“Those are things that we already purchase, minus the body bags. So, the mechanisms all exist for that to happen and for us to distribute those resources statewide,” Gamette said.
The task force hopes to present their case to legislative budget writers in January.
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