SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Illinois lawmakers could pass a critical plan this spring to require autopsies to be performed by board-certified pathologists. While you may think that is already the standard, it is not law in Illinois.
Throughout the United States, coroner's offices investigate causes of death to let family and law enforcement understand what happened and how people died.
"When a person isn't qualified, they may not know the exact cause of death, which causes significant additional trauma to the victim's family," Richard Burns told WAND News.
Burns has been advocating for change since he lost his brother Patrick in 2010. The Sangamon County coroner at that time, Susan Boone, stated the cause of death was excited delirium.
Years later, Coroner Jim Allmon re-opened the case and two of his pathologists changed his cause of death to a homicide. Richard said he is so glad Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) is trying to change state law to require board-certified pathologists to conduct autopsies.
"It seems like it's a commonsense thing to do," Burns said. "It starts with making sure that the truth of what happened is reported accurately by having a person who is qualified to do an autopsy to piece it together."
Burns is also connecting with other families who had autopsies updated years later.
Angela Butler received a call in 2008 that her two-year-old son had died from a rare form of cancer. However, that wasn't true. Allmon's office found that Anakin Credit was physically abused, and Butler's fiance pleaded guilty to aggravated battery.
"In the beginning when they told me one thing and then it closed, I started to move forward with my life," Butler said. "But then it reopened, and it reopened all the wounds all over again and made it that much more difficult to close them."
Butler said it is already hard enough to go through the loss itself. She hopes lawmakers on both sides of the aisle understand this is a commonsense solution that could potentially help countless families.
"Being lied to for as long as I have in my situation has hurt," Butler stressed. "And there's many times that I wanted to move from this state because I felt that I couldn't trust it. I haven't because I do like it here. But, it's a constant reminder of what the state made me feel and I don't want anyone else to feel that way."
Burns met with Rep. Mike Coffey (R-Springfield) Monday to talk about the legislation. Butler and Burns hope the plan will gain strong bipartisan support and get signed by Gov. JB Pritzker this year.
Turner filed Senate Bill 2779 on January 17, but the measure has not been assigned to a Senate committee. Sen. Christopher Belt (D-Cahokia) signed on as a co-sponsor last week.
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