Lack of contract has bodies piled up at morgue
Last Tuesday morning two armed robbers were shot by a downtown merchant and on Thursday one of them, Erlin Budram, died from his injuries. Today Budram was buried, but what happened during the six days following his death is evidence of a growing crisis in how the law, police and medical system deal with sudden death.
When Erlin Budram died on Thursday, little did his mom know that her son’s body would have to wait five days for a postmortem, before he could be laid to rest. Mother, Dorothy Budram says she faced a series of turn arounds in an effort to bury her son.
Dorothy Budram, Mother
“Well, when I gone to find out to get the death certificate they said it was a police case so we to C.I.B. the Friday, they told us they will look into it Saturday. They didn’t telephone Saturday or Sunday, we phoned on Monday. Police say they will look into it but they have no doctors.”
Ann Marie Williams
“Are you surprised that after five days he wasn’t able to be postmortem?”
Dorothy Budram
“I was wondering. I’m upset about it but what can I do? I have to go along with the program. If it wasn’t for my daughter and my sister and my son maybe he would be there for a longer time.”
Doctor Mario Estradabran couldn’t agree more. He says he’s the only forensic pathologist who attends to police cases and since his contract with the government has not been renewed families have faced long wait to bury their dead.
Dr. Mario Estradabran, Forensic Pathologist
“I do not know what is going to happen but according to the last information I got, they’re looking for a medical officer to do the forensic work. A medical officer is not fully qualified to do forensic autopsies; not even the pathology autopsy, so eventually the government through National Security have to look for a specialised person.”
Estradabran says Dr. Hugh Sanchez is also a specialised person, a clinical pathologist. Although Sanchez declined a television interview, he told us via telephone that he’s not responsible for police cases as he’s the pathologist for the entire country.
Dr. Mario Estradabran
“Dr. Sanchez is being forced by Mr. Alan Usher, the Chief Executive Officer to do forensic work through the Ministry of Health. He does not want to do any forensic autopsies because that is not his direct responsibility. It used to be the responsibility of the forensic doctor but since I’m not employed by the government, then they are pushing Dr. Sanchez around and forcing Dr. Sanchez to do medico-legal work. The reason why I did not sign any other contract is because we were into negotiations with Mr. Alan Usher to come up with an agreement. I was asking the National Security Ministry for a better environment, professional environment, to do my work and more salary of course and to consider some amendments that I did to the new contract and they did not accept it through Mr. Alan Usher, so that’s why I did not sign anymore contract.”
Although Dr. Sanchez was forced to postmortem Budram at 1:00pm Tuesday, the family wished the procedure was optional as they just wanted to bury their son. Unfortunately for them, it’s required by law.
Dr. Mario Estradabran
“It’s a murder and the coroner’s act is saying it has to go through the coroner’s procedure and through a postmortem examination.”
A postmortem is necessary in all sudden or unexpected deaths such as accidents, murders and suicides. Erlin Budram was today laid to rest at 3:00pm. Funeral services were held at Bishop Sylvestre Memorial Center in Belize City.
