Orleans Parish coroner unable to conduct autopsies due to air conditioning not working, city responds

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    NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office is unable to conduct autopsies due to ongoing air conditioning issues.

The building, located on Earhart Boulevard and Claiborne Avenue, does not have working air conditioning at this time, according to Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna.

“This has been a chronic problem we been complaining about it, this is not anything new,” said McKenna.

McKenna said air condition problems at the city’s morgue are now impacting their work.

“We had to stop autopsies, and they’ve been a problem for a few days because the morgue’s temperature is not low enough,” said McKenna.

According to McKenna, the morgue has to be just above freezing, which is 32 degrees.

“Around 36 or 37 degrees but it can’t be 50 and 60 degrees, it just can’t be,” said McKenna.

The $14.8 million building is less than 10 years old. McKenna said he’s alerted the city of the issue, and they provided temporary units, but those units keep failing.

“They said they didn’t have a permanent solution,” said McKenna.

WDSU reached out to Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office. In a statement, the Department of Property Management said, “The Department of Property Management is aware of the issue and has had a contractor working onsite. We are also in consultation with the original mechanical engineers to determine both an expedient remedy and a longer-term solution. The current operating temperature inside the offices and autopsy room is 67 degrees. We understand that this is above the comfortable working threshold for an autopsy room and will continue to address the issue.”

“It bothers me whenever I can’t provide the services I’ve been elected to do, and that’s what I feel like right now, and I don’t want to be blamed for things I cannot control,” said McKenna.

The coroner said the coolers that hold bodies are not impacted right now, but he fears if this problem persists, it could have a domino effect. He added that because they cannot complete autopsies, families will have to wait longer for death certificates, and it could also impact police investigations.

“Everything will be delayed. You know nothing is a homicide until I say it’s a homicide,” said McKenna.

It is unclear when autopsies will be able to resume due to the cooling issues not being addressed.

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