Formed 1882 (1882) Website coroner.lacounty.gov Founded 1882 | Annual budget $28,797,000 (2010) Phone +1 323-343-0512 Number of employees 209 (2010) | |
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Headquarters Boyle Heights, California Department executive Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran M.D., Interim Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Address 1104 N Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA Hours Closed today SundayClosedMonday8AM–5PMTuesday8AM–5PMWednesday8AM–5PMThursday8AM–5PMFriday8AM–5PMSaturdayClosed Jurisdiction Los Angeles County, California Parent department Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Similar Los Angeles County D, LA County Chief Executive, L A County Auditor Controller, Los Angeles County R, Kenneth Hahn Hall of Admini | ||
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner (formerly the Department of Coroner) was created in its present form in Boyle Heights on December 7, 1990 by an ordinance approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, though it has existed in some form since the late 19th century. On September 3, 2013, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the name change for the department, from the Department of the Coroner to the Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.
On July 9, 2013, the Board of Supervisors approved the appointment of Mark A. Fajardo, the Chief Forensic Pathologist at Riverside County, as the new Medical Examiner-Coroner, at an annual salary of $275,000. He formally replaced Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, who served 21 years as the Coroner, in August 2013.
Dr. Mark Fajardo resigned in March 2016. A news report indicates that "he left because it became common to have up to 50 bodies waiting to be processed and the backlog of bodies was “nuts.” ... and toxicology tests were taking six months to complete" due to inadequate staffing.
Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran was re-appointed, but as interim coroner, on April 11, 2016. As of December 30, 2016, the position of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner had not been permanently filled. A search process had been initiated by the County, with Ralph Andersen & Associates working "to develop a customized recruitment brochure for this position."