CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Governments outside of Nueces county are working on plans to hire someone to do their autopsies.
That after Nueces County Commissioner's Court voted Wednesday to stop its service outside the county in 90 days because of budget concerns.
San Patricio County officials say they've secured a medical examiner to do autopsies since Nueces County, its previous provider, has decided to drop that service for outside entities.
"It was just a shock, you know, for the surrounding counties,” San Patricio County Judge David Krebs. “It's going to create some problems for some of the smaller counties, besides ours, that didn't have an opportunity to look at this earlier when they had the issues the first time."
Krebs said he actually started looking for someone else to do the county's autopsies a few years ago when Nueces County began to have problems with previous medical examiner Dr. Adel Shaker.
Krebs said he heard that Dr. Ray Fernandez, Shaker’s predecessor, was doing autopsies around the Coastal Bend, so he signed an agreement with him.
"He's very professional,” said San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera. “He takes care of business, and he gives you a great report. He's precise."
Krebs said he doesn't have a plan B right now if things don't work out with Fernandez.
"He's plan A for us right now and stuff until Nueces County can figure out what they're going to be doing,” he said. “And hopefully they move back into plan A."
Nueces County Judge Connie Scott said Thursday the possibility of offering autopsy services to the surrounding area in the future isn’t being ruled out.
Fernandez tells 3NEWS he currently does autopsies where the bodies are located, including inside funeral homes, but he hopes to open his own accredited facility in the near future.