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Ohio Woman Argues to Limit a Coroner's Power to Change a Death Certificate

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ESB PROFESSIONAL
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SHUTTERSTOCK

A bill that could limit a coroner’s power over death certificates is under debate at the Statehouse.

In May 2014, Debbie Meadows died 11 days after her car was hit by a repeat drunken driver. The Columbus woman’s initial death certificate blamed blunt force trauma to the head. Meadows’ daughter-in-law Dawn Call says a review of the autopsy, after the examiner who did it was fired, determined the cause of death was cancer.

“Because of that we didn’t have a case after that. We had to dismiss the charges of vehicular homicide and he’s serving days instead of years in jail now. This is his third offense.”

Call testified in favor of a bill requiring a coroner to get permission from a judge to alter a death certificate. A spokesman for the Ohio State Coroners Association says the group is still looking over the bill, but notes survivors already have the option of asking a court to change a cause of death.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.