Reform is needed as soon as possible.
Sen. Fountain Odom, D-Mecklenburg, says he'll seek a legislative study commission to return next year with proposed changes in state law and funding. The state's public health director, Dr. Dennis McBride, is organizing a group of doctors, lawyers and others to find ways to improve death investigations. North Carolina's medical examiner system is staffed by appointed doctors who often lack the time to visit death scenes or the training to detect death by unnatural causes. An Observer investigation has found that unnatural deaths may go unquestioned, particularly among the elderly and the young. Criminal cases have been botched.