Orleans Parish Coroner Dwight McKenna’s failure to identify bodies, notify next of kin and adopt written protocols for the handling of the city's dead has already cost his office tens of thousands of dollars in outstanding legal judgements. Late last month, the bill rose even higher.

On Oct. 22, a three-judge panel of the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a lower court finding that McKenna’s office was liable for “outrageous and reckless” misconduct in the misidentification of Benjamin Pfantz , who died of a drug overdose in 2022.

The appellate court increased a Civil District Court judge’s award of damages to Pfantz’s parents from $10,000 to $50,000, criticizing in a written order the lack of policies and practices in McKenna's office.

“The lack of written protocols, pol

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