Forget what you know about television’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” or – if you’re a little older – “Quincy M.E.”

Those shows don’t depict the life of the average county coroner, says Limestone Count Coroner Mike West.

“In one episode, Quincy used two ends of a lamp cord to restart someone’s heart – like that wouldn’t kill him,” West said, laughing about the 1976 drama in which Jack Klugman plays a Los Angeles County medical examiner who is also part amateur detective.

“Or the time Quincy used a ball point pen to open someone’s airway,” West laughed. “I’ve never tried that.”

As for CSI, a current television drama about forensic crime solving, West faults mainly its unrealistic time frame.

“You can’t get the results of a DNA test in 10 minutes,” West said. “It takes several weeks.”

Also, everyone is a physician on CSI,” he said. Coroners are doctors only in larger cities such as Tuscaloosa or Mobile County, he said.

West doesn’t consider himself an amateur detective. His job is to go to the scene of fatal traffic accidents, residential deaths, homicides, suicides and deaths unattended by a physician. He tries to determine cause of death and then certifies the death by signing a death certificate. “If we can’t determine cause of death, we look at their medical records to see if we can draw a conclusion,” he said. In some cases, this requires blood or urine tests.

In the case of a death that appears to be a homicide, the coroner’s role is not that of crime solver like the characters on CSI.

“It’s really not like that,” he said. “The police collect evidence and autopsies are performed by the Department of Forensic Science in Huntsville.”

Autopsies must be requested through the District Attorney’s Office.



When I grow up …

If you saw the coroner’s job advertised in a classified ad, you would probably keep looking for another job because it would read something like this:

“Responsible person wanted to be on call 24/7 to immediately respond to fatal traffic accidents, homicides, suicides and various unattended deaths to try to determine cause of death and issue a death certificate. Must notify next of kin. Requires strong heart and stomach. Pays about $19,000 a year.

So, what attracted West to the job?

“To tell you the truth, I was tired of waiting for the coroner to arrive,” he said.

When he first decided to run for the elected position in Limestone County in 1982, he was working as a paramedic, which meant being called to possible fatal wrecks, murders, suicides and natural deaths. Emergency personnel, police and others have to wait for the coroner to arrive and declare a person legally dead before they can proceed.

West has been Limestone’s coroner for 24 years. He was first elected in 1982 and was re-elected to his sixth-consecutive term in 2006. In addition to being coroner, West has a full-time job as director of emergency medical services for Athens-Limestone Hospital. He’s been doing that since 1980.

Well before West was elected, coroners could perform autopsies, he said.

In many states, coroners are appointed, not elected. Although West is well qualified, he has reservations about the concept of elected coroners.

“My biggest problem with it is that anybody could run,” he said. However, he added, the state legislature has raised the requirements for coroner candidates – they must be at least age 25 and they have to have some training before or after they take office.



Speed and seatbelts

The best way to avoid seeing West in his role as coroner is to avoid speeding and to wear a seatbelt.

“Most of the deaths I attend are traffic accidents,” West said. “We run 22 to 24 a year – about two a month.”

“If you are in a car and you don’t have a seatbelt and you are ejected, you have a 50 percent higher chance of dying,” he said. “People who don’t wear seatbelts tell me they are afraid of being trapped in their vehicle. Well, we can cut seatbelts.”

What worries West are four-lane highways like U.S. 72 West in Limestone County that don’t have a concrete divider or steel guardrail separating opposing lanes of traffic. The lack of a divider leads to more head-on collisions, he said.

“If you are hit head-on, your chance of survival is based on speed and the grace of God,” West said.

He has lobbied for a divider on 72 West, but he says officials are still working on that. The good news is that since authorities increased enforcement of the speed limit three years ago, there has been only one fatal accident on the highway, he said.

One of the benefits of being in emergency medical services is being able to try to improve public health and safety, he said.

“We try to encourage and teach people to take care of themselves,” he said. “If they have high blood pressure, to take their medicine, or if they have heart disease, to improve their diet and exercise.”



Leaving work at work

If ever there were ever a job that required leaving work at work, it would be the job of coroner.

Not only is the coroner on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but like other emergency workers – paramedics, law-enforcement officers, firefighters, nurses and doctors – the coroner often sees terrible death scenes.

How does West deal with what he has seen?

“I’ve been doing it for so long that, to some degree, I think I have been desensitized to it,” he said. “Though, seeing a child still bothers me or young people in the prime of life – whether it is natural or otherwise – it’s just a shame.”

Add to that burden, the responsibility of notifying next of kin that their loved one has died.

To help him cope, West relies on people who know what he’s gone through.

“I deal with it by talking with friends, other coroners, EMS or hospital people – we talk among ourselves,” he said.



Most rewarding

If you meet West on the job at a fatal accident or at the scene of a murder, he is keenly focused on the task at hand. He deals swiftly and succinctly with the media. But he has a more relaxed demeanor and a good sense of humor at other times, according to those who know him.

Although work doesn’t leave much time for hobbies, West said he and his wife Ginger, who is a registered nurse with the education department, enjoy spoiling their grandchildren.

“I’m good at it, ” he said.

The couple has a daughter, Jessica Taylor, who works for a physical therapist, and is married with one child, and a son, Christopher West, who is an EMT for HEMSI ambulance service in Huntsville and attending paramedic school and is married with two children.

As for work, he finds both jobs rewarding.

“As for EMS, I find it rewarding that I have been here awhile and I still have passion for the job,” he said. “As for the coroner’s office, I find it rewarding that we can assist families in detecting the exact cause of death.”