Rock County medical examiner details caseload, staffing, unclaimed remains and overdose trends
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Summary
Dane County chief medical examiner Agnesh Karogalska reported to the Rock County Board that the intergovernmental agreement gives Rock access to physician-led services; she outlined a 2024 workload that included about 1,000 cremation permits, roughly 850 investigator calls and continuing backlogs and unclaimed remains.
Agnesh Karogalska, chief medical examiner for Dane County who also serves Rock County, told the Rock County Board of Supervisors that an intergovernmental agreement with Dane allows Rock access to physician-led medical examiner services and broader administrative support.
Karogalska said the IGA centralizes medical direction and administrative services — including autopsy performance, cause-and-manner determinations, scene response by doctors, training and oversight of investigators — because a single county typically cannot support a full physician-led office. "I am the chief medical examiner. ... For the cost of the intergovernmental agreement, Rock County has access to all of these professionals and all the doctors that we have on staff at the medical examiner's office," she said.
The chief medical examiner summarized 2024 workload and service changes. She reported "a little over a thousand" cremation permits were processed, of which 546 were cases the office actively investigated and 81 permits were waived through the Wisconsin Funeral Home and Cemetery Aids (WFCAF) program. Investigators answered about 850 calls in 2024; Karogalska said roughly 200 of those cases proceeded to some form of examination, and about half of examinations included autopsies.
Karogalska described cause-of-death patterns: about 87 percent of accepted cases were natural, the largest share of accidental deaths were overdoses (with fentanyl, heroin and other opiates cited as drivers), and the office investigated eight homicides and 22 suicides in 2024. She also said the office has seen a rise in unclaimed remains and at times has relied on Dane County resources to house decedents.
She outlined operational improvements: investigators moved into renovated UW Extension space with new offices, group and conference rooms, and the office is relocating coolers and freezers into that facility to centralize decedent handling. Karogalska also said the office will take over and implement expanded annual training in 2026 covering sharps safety, body handling, use of PAPR equipment and other procedures under the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) expectations.
Melissa Whitwer, director of child support, addressed a different agenda item during the meeting but also thanked the board in the recognition portion for a departing staff member. Karogalska closed by inviting questions; none were asked during the allotted time.
