WilCo commissioners consider adding medical examiner's office

Of the autopsies performed by the Travis County office, about a third come from Williamson County, said Danny Hobby, Travis County executive of emergency services.

Because of its high use of the Travis County office, Williamson County commissioners are considering the idea of building their own regional medical examiner's office.

However, because the Travis County office is in the process of finding a way to fund a new building, Williamson County commissioners are also considering maintaining the partnership to save the cost of building their own facility and help Travis County pay for theirs.

Recently, the Travis County office hired six pathologists to stay accredited with NAME. The move required shuffling a number of offices in the 17-year-old building, including repurposing two janitor offices and a locker room, to make room for the new employees, said Sarah Scott, chief administrative officer at the Travis County office.

Williamson County had 258 autopsies performed by the TCMEO in 2012, according to the medical examiner's records. Each cost about $2,600.

"What's really being discussed here is we may have the opportunity to move into [a] partnership that may be cheaper than building our own [office]," Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis said. "Nothing is broken immediately, but somewhere down the line we will have to consider it. The Commissioners Court owes it to taxpayers to look at that."