Untitled (Collin County Medical Examiner)
| Multi Request | Untitled |
| Submitted | Dec. 28, 2018 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Scott Black
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
12/28/2018
To Whom It May Concern:
Under the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records within 10 days per statute:
Any lists for deaths/examinations/autopsies performed by the Dallas County Medical Examiner and/or Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences, Collin County Medical Examiner, Hunt County Medical Examiner, Rockwall County Medical Examiner, Kaufman County Medical Examiner, Ellis County Medical Examiner, Navarro County Medical Examiner, or for the government entities of Collin, Hunt, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis and Navarro counties in Texas since January of 2010.
I allow for the editing of information which is not able to be released under statute. No documents should be withheld, but only if necessary, information not able to be released under law may be edited.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
If there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
The requested records would be helpful if they include but not be limited to the following:
1. IFS Case Number
2. Decedent’s Name
3. Age
4. Date of Birth
5. Gender
6. Date of Death
7. Cause of Death
8. Manner of Death
9. County of Death
10. Place of Death
11. Address of Death
12. City of Death
13. Zip Code of Death
14. Date of Death Year
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Scott Black
From: Collin County Medical Examiner
The Collin County Medical Examiner’s Office keeps no such list as requested in your Dec. 29, 2018, public information request. So you are aware, this office is not required to compile or report such a list by local policy or state law. We can send you fairly detailed statistical totals of the ME’s caseload, or you can view them back to Fiscal Year 2010 on our website (https://www.collincountytx.gov/medical_examiner/Pages/default.aspx). These reports are what the office is required to publish on behalf of the county and to maintain accreditation by the National Association of Medical Examiners.
We are certainly aware that the majority of the information in these files is public record, but the ME’s office has no system in place to compile a broad, customized report of the type you have requested. Our reports are not in a programmable database. The information would have to be hand-compiled from paper and/or pdf files, with each file being redacted by hand, when necessary. With approximately 900 cases per year, that would come to roughly 7,200 individually hand-compiled reports, each requiring a separate review for possible legal exceptions (redactions), before they would be copied. Your request alone would remove two of our administrative staff members from their regular workload for an extended period of time. A very rough estimate would easily run upwards of $31,000 in labor costs but only about $700-800 in copy costs.
The annual reports mentioned above are the only lists or reports we compile. If you would like us to send you those reports by email, please let us know.
Leigh Ann Nolen
Secretary
Collin County Medical Examiner
700 B Wilmeth Road
McKinney, Texas 75069
PH: 972-548-3775
Fax: 972-548-3760
Files
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