Impacts of nationwide medical examiner shortage being felt in Las Vegas

From coast to coast, the nation is grappling with a critical shortage of medical examiners and Southern Nevada is feeling the impact also.

Clark County is home to over 2.2 million residents and the shortage is putting pressure on the region’s ability to handle the growing number of deaths in the area.

“We are responsible for conducting the death investigation into any occurrence outside of natural means that occurs suddenly and unexpectedly,” said Melanie Rouse, the Clark County Coroner.

Rouse explained what factors have contributed to the shortage and its potential impact on the community.

“There are just not enough of them coming out of med school,” Rouse said.

By them, Rouse is referring to forensic pathologists.

“Right now there’s only about 750 practicing full-time in the entire country. They estimated with a rising caseload that we are seeing that you need anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 practicing full-time,” Rouse said.

At the Clark county coroner's office, there should be seven medical examiners, but Rouse says right now there’s four. To help balance the case volume, they’ve hired traveling physicians. All of them need to have Nevada medical licenses and their board certifications completed.

“Without that, then we would not be able to keep up with volume,” Rouse said.

So why does this matter? The shortage isn’t just about numbers, it’s about quality and timeliness of service, which Rouse says she and her team are committed to providing, even while the coroner's office works through an increase in the number of cases it handles from natural deaths, to drug overdoses, homicides, and more.

The shortage is part of the reason why Kate Vannoy wants to become a medical examiner one day.

“That’s my goal,” Vannoy said.

The recent University of Nevada, Reno graduate says she’s always been fascinated by the type of work medical examiners do and after earning her degree in biology, she’s one step closer to becoming one.

“To bring closure to families to come to terms with what happened to their loved ones is always important to do. I've just always been interested,” Vannoy said.

As Clark County continues to grow, so does the demand for a fully staffed and equipped coroner’s office, which is why the push for more people is so crucial.

To address the shortage, the Clark County coroner’s office is actively seeking to recruit and train new staff.

Part of their efforts include partnering with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Touro University Nevada to expose medical students to pathology and forensic pathology as a specialty. The partnership with UNLV allows every single one of their first year medical students to do a one day rotation with them

A forensic fellowship program will soon be available where fellows can be trained after they’ve completed their residency to become board certified forensic pathologists.