Coroner's Staff Warned About Jackson Death Certificate
Updated 3:03 PM PDT, Thu, Jan 7, 2010
Michael Jackson's death certificate was improperly viewed by at least half a dozen employees of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday on its website.
The death certificate was viewed more than 300 times within two weeks of Jackson's death, which was "not appropriate," department Chief Investigator Craig Harvey told The Times.
"There's only one person in the investigation of Mr. Jackson who needed to have a copy of the death certificate, and that was the investigator," Harvey said.
Harvey said there were so many printed copies of the certificate around before it became a public record, department officials issued a warning to staff, pointing out that they had already been admonished about security in the case.
An investigation also turned up glitches in the computer system which allowed staffers access to the information.
Members of the coroner's staff who had paper copies of the certificate were even told to destroy them, or face disciplinary action.
Harvey said he had the names of staffers who had the certificate, even though they were not involved in the investigation.
Records in the Electronic Death Registration System can be accessed by not only the coroner's office, but hospital, funeral home, county and state registrar offices if they have the appropriate state-issued passwords.
First Published: Jul 23, 2009 8:05 AM PDT
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