{"id":1307273,"date":"2022-02-17T16:52:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T21:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1307273"},"modified":"2022-02-17T16:52:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T21:52:48","slug":"bodies-piling-up-morgue-opened-in-baltimore-parking-garage-to-deal-with-autopsy-backlog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bodies-piling-up-morgue-opened-in-baltimore-parking-garage-to-deal-with-autopsy-backlog\/","title":{"rendered":"&#039;Bodies Piling Up:&#039; Morgue Opened in Baltimore Parking Garage to Deal with Autopsy Backlog"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbodies-piling-up-morgue-opened-in-baltimore-parking-garage-to-deal-with-autopsy-backlog%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1307273&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AP20354728231532-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) converted a downtown Baltimore parking garage into a morgue to deal with an \u201cunprecedented backlog of autopsies\u201d of people who have been murdered or have overdosed, WMAR Baltimore <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmar2news.com\/news\/local-news\/morgue-operating-in-baltimore-parking-garage-as-200-bodies-await-autopsy\">reported<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bodies are piling up and decaying right in front of everyone\u2019s eyes,\u201d said Patrick Moran, President of AFSCME Council 3 Patrick Moran told the outlet. \u201cBodies are decomposing and that\u2019s not the way to treat those that have lost their lives and families who are looking for closure.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>According to the report, more than 200 bodies are awaiting autopsy. Montgomery County Democrat Delegate Kirill Reznik said some of the remains are being kept in refrigerated truck trailers in the garage and loading dock, CBS News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/maryland-bodies-baltimore-garage-coroners-office-backup\/\">reported<\/a>. Procurement documents analyzed by a CBS affiliate discovered that the garage is being rented for $30,000 per month.<\/p>\n<p>Moran told WMAR that union members \u201cdescribe a gruesome scene at the agency in Baltimore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pretty vile and it\u2019s pretty unhealthy,\u201d Moran said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Maryland Department of Health is reportedly using the garage until a permanent expansion can be built.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe additional storage that has been provided allows adequate capacity decedents that may be awaiting autopsy as well as decedents who are completed and awaiting funeral homes,\u201d Dr. Jinlene Chan, Deputy Secretary of MDH, said at a House subcommittee meeting last week.<\/p>\n<p>Chan credited the backlog to high vacancy rates as well, \u201c17.2 percent in December,\u201d to which an MDH spokesperson confirmed a \u201cnationwide shortage of qualified applicants.\u201d According to the report, three positions have been vacant for nearly a year, and several medical examiners have either resigned or retired. At least three more are \u201cexpected to retire soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo assist with the growing workload, MDH added 21 new positions, including medical examiners, toxicologists, and support professionals,\u201d the outlet found. \u201cIn the meantime, FEMA is supplying two pathologists and two pathology assistants to provide additional support to OCME beginning this week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Erich W. March, VP and CEO of March Funeral Homes, told WMAR that the backlog is negatively impacting families who have lost loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe families are anxious anyway because they have lost someone who\u2019s dear to them so it adds onto the anxiety level,\u201d March said.<\/p>\n<p>March added that delays are also making planning memorial services more difficult for families because \u201cthey don\u2019t have a real set date as to when preparations can be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmar2news.com\/news\/local-news\/february-2022-daily-tracker-baltimore-murders-and-shootings\">report<\/a>, WMAR noted that in January 2022, Baltimore City reported 36 homicides and 49 non-fatal shootings \u2014 \u201cthe deadliest January since the 1970s.\u201d Last year, the Democrat-run city saw its seventh consecutive year of more than<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/crime\/2021\/12\/30\/2021-the-seventh-consecutive-year-of-300-homicides-in-democrat-run-baltimore\/\"> 300 homicides<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>WJZ13 <a href=\"https:\/\/baltimore.cbslocal.com\/2022\/02\/11\/maryland-woman-recovering-from-addiction-calls-for-action-against-opioid-epidemic\/\">reported<\/a> on February 11 that opioid overdoses remain \u201camong one of the state\u2019s leading causes of death.\u201d Nationwide from April 2020 to April 2021, more than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses \u2014 a 28 percent increased compared to the previous year, according to Centers for Disease Control and prevention data.<b><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) converted a downtown Baltimore parking garage into a morgue to deal with an \u201cunprecedented backlog of autopsies\u201d of people who have been murdered or &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1307273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}