Dr. Daniel Spitz serves Macomb on a service contract. [Photo from Fox 2 News]
Dr. Daniel Spitz, medical examiner for Macomb County, got a sweet contract boost to $377,000 a year that belatedly surprises county commissioners, Chad Selweski reports in The Macomb Daily.
Spitz’s agreement to handle all autopsies for the county nearly doubled last year after he formed a private company, Spitz Pathology Group, and hired a fully certified medical examiner to assist him with the operations at the county morgue.
The Board of Commissioners learned about the chief medical examiner’s new arrangements two weeks ago when they finally got a look at 124 contracts signed by County Executive Mark Hackel while Hackel waged a losing court fight to block board approvals.
“State statute is clear that the board appoints the county medical examiner. This is a large contract and it deserves public scrutiny, to be vetted at a public meeting,” said Commissioner Toni Moceri, a Warren Democrat who chairs the board’s Health and Human Services Committee.
Spitz is a second-generation Macomb coroner. He took over in 2004 when Dr. Werner Spitz, his dad, retired.
The contract, which runs through Dec. 31, is defended by county health director Bill Ridella, who tells Selweski that it pays for an additional coroner hired by Spitz, as well as business expenses at his Clinton Township office.
Commissioner Moceri wants Ridella and Spitz to attend a session of her committee soon to answer questions, the reporter adds.
County board Chairman Dave Flynn concurs with that approach. “When it comes to the Medical Examiner’s Office,” Flynn said, “we don’t know what we don’t know.”
The $377,000 deal isn't the current doctor's only public contract. He's also part-time medical examiner for neighboring St. Clair County, Selweski notes.
