Interim medical examiner candidate named

Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu announced in a September 3 letter to Whatcom County Council that he intended to appoint Dr. Aldo Fusaro as interim medical examiner while the county recruits a new examiner. Fusaro is expected to start September 10.

Fusaro has served as deputy medical examiner of the Montana State Medical Examiner’s Office since 2017 and previously served as associate medical examiner for King County from 2005 to 2017. He started his career in the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office in Chicago from 1997 to 2005 after attending medical school at Des Moines University.

As he serves concurrently as deputy medical examiner in Montana, Fusaro will split his time between states, according to the letter. Local pathologists will perform autopsies when Fusaro is in Montana.

Sidhu announced August 5 that the county began searching for a new medical examiner, which he made in the same announcement that the county had concluded its independent investigation into the storage of two bodies that decomposed over a hot weekend in mid-May. The incident was found to be isolated, and the executive’s office noted the report showed the medical examiner’s office had gaps in protocols.

Fusaro will still need to be approved by the Northwest Washington Medical Society and Sheriff Donnell Tanksley, as well as confirmed by Whatcom County Council during its September 10 meeting, Sidhu wrote.

The Northern Light previously reported that Sidhu appeared to have not followed the Whatcom County Charter when hiring the previous medical examiner, Dr. Allison Hunt in 2021.

The charter outlines that the county executive can only appoint a medical examiner approved by the medical society and sheriff. Dr. Marta Kazymyra, the representative for the medical society, said she did not recommend the county’s hire of Hunt. A public records request showed then-sheriff Bill Elfo had concerns about Hunt’s managerial and administrative experience from his notes in the first interview, but his final recommendation remained unknown.

Kazymyra said the county was including the medical society in this hiring process, but she still felt wary of county staff after the last hiring.

“I think they see the problem they got themselves into and they’re being inclusive of the Northwest Washington Medical Society,” Kazymyra said.

Kazymyra added that the 2021 hiring process excluded candidates who didn’t have in-state licenses, despite few forensic pathologists working in Washington state. The county has now dropped the in-state medical license requirement after the medical society recently raised concerns about it.

As of September 3, Hunt continued to serve as medical examiner and Hunt Forensics continued providing services stipulated in the contract with Whatcom County, wrote Jed Holmes, spokesperson for the Whatcom County Executive’s Office, in an email to The Northern Light.

“Discussions on a transition plan are ongoing,” Holmes wrote.

Hunt’s lawyer, Joan Mell, told The Northern Light in mid-August that Hunt initiated leaving her contract and the scope of her service obligations would be decided in litigation. Hunt had said Whatcom County had indicated that it intended to “move forward status quo or sue me for breach of contract.”

Mell could not be reached for an update on the legal proceedings with the contract.

Holmes said Whatcom County selected Fusaro because he previously worked in King County and his name was brought up when the county called other jurisdictions about potential forensic pathologists who could help in the interim.

“Whatcom County considered several options for meeting our need for medical examiner services, including contracting with other counties. In the end, the option of appointing an interim medical examiner turned out to be the least challenging logistically,” Holmes wrote. “No providers other than Dr. Fusaro came forward to offer to serve as medical examiner on an interim basis. We look forward to the outcome of the competitive hiring process for the permanent position and continue  [to] advertise it broadly.”

Whatcom County has received five applicants for the medical examiner position so far and anticipates holding interviews during the first half of October, Holmes wrote. He said the county would like to have the recruitment process finished after interviews in October but that it was hard to predict a start date because many of the candidates, if not all, were applying from outside of Whatcom County.