Proposed contract would bring in medical examiner from Kalamazoo County

St. Joseph County appears ready to part ways with its longtime medical examiner, John Robertson.
The issue was discussed during Wednesday’s county commission executive committee meeting, where prosecutor John McDonough proposed aligning with a Kalamazoo County-based source for M.E. services.
McDonough introduced Joyce deJong, medical examiner of Kalamazoo County and three other counties. She is also pathology chair and professor for Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.
The school, for more than the past 12 months, has provided by contract the county’s autopsy service, McDonough said. He added that the school would offer additional services previously not made available to the county.
The proposed contract with deJong averages about $146,000 a year over a four-year period and is an all-inclusive deal that includes autopsies, investigations and all other medical examiner functions.
Robertson, a 79-year-old White Pigeon native who still works part time at a Sturgis family practice, has been the county’s medical examiner for 30 years.
Commissioners are expected to act on the proposal at next Tuesday’s board meeting.