ATLANTA — Georgia officials are preparing for a deadly tragedy, like the Orlando nightclub massacre, with a major expansion at a local morgue.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation's chief medical examiner says the expansion is about getting answers for the investigation and answers for families quickly.
“I need to be ready as a physician and as a chief medical examiner for the state. But at the same time, I’m a person. I have a family and you just, you never know, it’s very difficult from a personal standpoint,” said Dr. Jonathan Eisenstat.
He says the morgue needs more room because overall deaths are up, mainly because of drug overdose deaths, but the expansion is designed with the horrible possibility of mass fatalities in mind.
“I went to a meeting where the coroners and funeral directors from Newtown, Connecticut, spoke and it was the most chilling thing that I’ve ever experienced,” Eisenstat said.
A Lodox machine is key to their plan, allowing a full-body X-ray in 13 seconds instead of up to a couple of hours the old-fashioned way.
“It allows us to see if there's any weapons, any devices or any injuries on the body,” Eisenstat said.
Currently, the morgue can hold 50 bodies.
“We're going to be expanding our capacity to hold bodies out from this building into the parking lot that we have now. And the cooler space is going to encompass this area and hold around 60 more bodies,” he said.
The doc says that can be supplemented by refrigerated trailers.
Eisenstat says he hopes he never has to employ the mass fatality procedures the GBI is putting in place, which could also come into play for things like a natural disaster.
Cox Media Group
