September 16, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Will the county commission uphold the 90-day suspension of medical examiner Dr. Denise Dingle resulting in her termination?
During a meeting Monday night, the county’s health, education, and public welfare committee discussed the issue and voted to recommend that the full county commission uphold County Mayor Matt Adcock’s 90-day suspension of Dr. Dingle due to alleged “uncooperative and unprofessional” conduct. The committee also voted to recommend that the county commission hire Dr. Caleb Cantrell at $2,000 per month total as he (Dr. Cantrell) has requested to fill both positions, medical examiner and medical director and for him to take over from Dingle at the end of her suspension on October 30. When he suspended Dr. Dingle as medical examiner in July, County Mayor Adcock also terminated her as medical director, a separate position, and named Dr. Cantrell to succeed her in that role.
Dr. Dingle’s attorney Jon Slager attended the committee meeting Monday night but did not address it. However, he did make a statement to WJLE after the meeting in response to the committee’s recommendation.
“Its very unfortunate what the committee has done tonight but of course it has to go before the full county commission on Monday and we look forward to that,” said Slager. “I certainly hope that we can reach out to some of those commissioners between now and then and get them some information about Dr. Dingle. She has been a doctor longer than I have been alive. She has done a good job in her position as medical director and medical examiner. Our hope is the county commissioners will look at this and not just follow County Mayor Adcock who is the only one who has verbally said anything pushing this. My hope is that they would examine her record and the fact that there are zero disciplinary actions or write-ups and make an independent decision. If they do that I think she will keep her position with the county,” said Slager
According to Committee Chairman Larry Green, if approved by the county commission, Dr. Cantrell has offered to serve in the combined positions of medical director/medical examiner for a total of $2,000 per month as a contracted service instead of being hired as a county employee. Originally, Dr. Cantrell had only asked the county to provide him health insurance coverage but in order to do that, Dr. Cantrell had to be a county employee and draw at least a minimum salary which with benefits in the 2024-25 budget would be $41,000. The county has been paying Dr. Dingle, as a contracted service, $5,000 a year as medical director and $100 per body as medical examiner. According to statistics, the county averages 50-60 bodies per year in which a medical examiner/coroner’s report is needed.
Concerns about the medical examiner position were first raised several months ago during county commission workshops after complaints that the office, in some cases, was not providing a timely response to on scene deaths causing delays in investigations before the removal of a body.
In July Dr. Dingle was terminated by County Mayor Adcock in her role as medical director over county emergency medical services and he also suspended her for 90 days as the county medical examiner alleging Dingle to have been “uncooperative and unprofessional”.
Dr. Dingle retained Slager to represent her in this matter and last month he emailed letters to each of the 14 county commissioners asking them to take into consideration Dr. Dingle’s spotless record before making a determination. In his defense of Dr. Dingle, Slager pointed out in his letter to the county commission that her personnel file contains no write-ups.
Committee Chairman Green said County Attorney Hilton Conger was asked to offer some advice on the matter.
“I went through Hilton to get an opinion because I did not know exactly where we stood legally. In a nutshell (according to Conger) the medical examiner and medical director are not county employees, therefore there is no personnel file,” said Green. “They serve just like Hilton does, just like Steve Bates (fiscal agent) does. They give professional advice and services to the county commission therefore there is no personnel file,” explained Green.
“The main argument that I have heard is that nothing was documented (as cause for suspension/termination) but there really doesn’t have to be anything documented,” Green continued. “For example, if the county mayor decided today he wanted to terminate Hilton (county attorney) he could with the county commission then supporting him. That in a nutshell is where we are at,” he said.
The issue of whether the medical examiner can charge a fee to a family for a cremation certificate was also discussed. A practice allegedly conducted by Dr. Dingle.
“There is no statute that gives them (a medical examiner) permission to charge for a cremation certificate according to information provided by the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS),” Green said.
According to Green, Dr. Cantrell has said he would not charge for cremation certificates.
“All we can do tonight is make a motion back to the county commission on what this committee recommends,” said Green. “There are only two choices. Either recommend upholding the suspension of Dr. Dingle which would result in her termination on October 30 or recommend lifting the suspension and then she would go back to being the medical examiner effective immediately”.
Committee member Glynn Merriman made a motion to recommend to the county commission that the suspension be upheld. Member Jeff Barnes offered a second to the motion which was approved. Members Mathias Anderson and Daniel Cripps also voted in favor. Members Tom Chandler and Myron Rhody were absent.
In a separate motion, the committee voted to recommend to the county commission that Dr. Cantrell be named as the county’s medical director and medical examiner for a total of $2,000 per month. Committee member Barnes made the motion and member Anderson offered a second to the motion. Members Merriman and Cripps also voted in favor.
The county commission will meet in regular monthly session Monday night, September 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multipurpose Center.