Complainants updated on investigation of Lubbock Co. Medical Examiner’s office

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A handful of people who filed complaints about the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office with the Texas Medical Board are now receiving updates on the status of the investigation.

As KCBD has reported over the last seven months, allegations were made that a doctor was practicing medicine without a license and that the company now running the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office (National Autopsy Assay Group Pathology Labs or NAAG) is requiring what former employees are calling “excessive autopsies" in order to obtain tissue for personal research.

Those are allegations Lubbock County Officials and NAAG have denied.

On Thursday, NAAG spokesperson David Marguiles told us, “The complaint is without merit because the work performed was under the direction of a physician licensed to practice in Texas and involved procedures normally performed by an unlicensed technician.”

Now those whose complaints sparked an investigation by the Texas Medical Board are learning the investigation is not over.

The KCBD Investigates Team has obtained a letter one of the complainants received from the Texas Medical Board.

According to the board’s rules, an investigation must be completed within 180 days of a complaint unless there is good reason as to why the investigation should exceed that time frame, which is what is happening in this case.

Complainants are now being informed the complaint at issue is under “administrative review in regard to possible resolution.”

As the Texas Medical Board continues its investigation, the Texas Rangers are also investigation the allegations.

In the meantime, the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office has decided not to sponsor any testimony from anyone in the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office pending the results of the Texas Rangers investigation.

Copyright 2019 KCBD. All rights reserved.