PHOENIX, Arizona — PHOENIX, Ariz. – The lab that handles toxicology testing in Maricopa County to help determine the cause of thousands of deaths each year is about to close.
Maricopa County Chief Medical Examiner Jeff Johnston said Monday that newer street drugs were quickly developing and the Valley lab just cannot keep up with the changes in testing, so they decided to close the toxicology lab and contract the work out to a company in Pennsylvania, putting 10 local staffers out of work.
Dr. Johnston said the decision was about keeping up with technology. His toxicology lab is scheduled to close in mid-March.
“Half of the equipment that we’re using right now is past its end of life, another third is towards end of life in the next four to five years,” Dr. Johnston said.
The Maricopa County toxicology lab is where bodies are tested for drugs or poison to find if the death is linked to a possible crime. Instead, this testing will be outsourced to NMS Laboratories—a private lab in Pennsylvania.
“They have the types of instruments we would look to invest in over the next five years, but they’ve been using them for five years. They have research and development that we can’t compete with to keep up with the new and emerging drugs that are entering the public and causing deaths,” Dr. Johnston said.
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Amanda Steele emailed 12 News the following statement regarding the closure:
We were aware of the move and have been assured it will not affect our ability to obtain timely results and successfully prosecute cases where toxicology is central to the case. Please note, there have been instances in the past where out of state analysis was necessary. In fact, most of the testing of the backlog sex assault kits were handled by out of state providers. In addition, labs around the state regularly contract with out of state providers for testing. If issues present themselves in the future, we will rely on our working relationship with the ME and County leadership to address.
The Chief Medical Examiner said Monday that the commercial lab has about a two-week turnaround, compared to the six weeks here in the county.
As far as costs go, Johnston said upgrades to keep the testing in-house over the next five years would cost the county an estimated $312 per case, compared to $179 to $230 per case when the work is outsourced.
Johnston said the 10 employees who will lose their jobs received a two-month notice, but will not receive a severance package.