Schuylkill to save on autopsies

Schuylkill County will save money by having pathologist Dr. Richard Bindie perform autopsies in the county instead of having them done in Reading or Allentown.

On Wednesday, county commissioners approved coroner David J. Moylan’s request to hire Bindie.

Bindie will perform the autopsies in the mobile morgue at Moylan’s Simon Kramer Cancer Institute, New Philadelphia, for $1,200 each.

Sending the bodies to Reading or Allentown for autopsy cost $2,000 each, plus transportation, he said.

“This will be a wonderful thing for the county. It will save us money and we’ll have the expertise of this gentleman who is a lifelong learner,” Moylan said.

Bindie’s contract will run from April 1 through Dec. 31.

Bindie is certified by the American College of Pathology.

Moylan had been having pathologist Dr. Mary Pascucci perform the autopsies. However, Moylan told commissioners she is currently on hiatus “because of malpractice insurance concerns.” She was covered by a Hazleton medical group, but is no longer employed there.

“So it’s a matter of her coming up with medical malpractice insurance,” he said.

He said Pascucci would have to perform 50 autopsies for Schuylkill to earn enough to pay the insurance.

Pascucci’s contract with the county would also end in December; commissioners did not immediately terminate her employment, at Moylan’s request.

He said he wanted to give her time to see if she could get the insurance.

In other matters, commissioners approved the submission of a grant application on behalf of the Drug & Alcohol program.

The $486,000 grant, through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, is something the program receives every two years, said county Administrator Gary R. Bender.

It will be used for substance abuse services for the intermediate punishment program.