by Jim Dooley

Honolulu has been trying unsuccessfully for years to hire a new director of the Medical Examiner’s Department, but the position has stayed vacant even though its salary has been bumped to $200,016 to attract qualified applicants.

The National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) cancelled the department’s certification here in 2010 because a qualified forensic pathologist was not heading the office.

After the retirement of the last such qualified professional, Dr. Kanthi DeAlwis, the city promoted a deputy in the office, Dr. William Goodhue, to be acting director of the department.

But Goodhue did not meet NAME’s certification criteria, so the organization downgraded Honolulu’s certification.

Then Goodhue retired last September, leaving the office not just uncertified but seriously short-staffed.

Now a retired investigator from the prosecutor's office, who has no medical training, is calling himself acting director of the department.

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Source: Hawaii Reporter