New Hampton physician will serve as county’s chief medical examiner
Chickasaw County has a new chief medical examiner after the Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to appoint Dr. Daniel Paul McQuillen of New Hampton as chief medical examiner for a two-year term, effective this coming Sunday.In Iowa, any death that is violent, suspicious, or sudden and unexpected must be investigated by an appointed medical examiner, according to the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner. This includes any death that is not attended by a physician.Three doctors attended, McQuillen, Jack Klein and John Epperly. Iowa Code sets the requirements for which types of doctors are qualified to be chief medical examiner, and these attendees were all qualified. The board may appoint any physician of the county who is licensed in Iowa, who is a doctor of medicine, or osteopathy, and surgery.They wanted to know what the job consisted of, said Chairman Jacob Hackman who attended the meeting, in a follow-up call, and that after they found out what it consisted of, McQuillen volunteered.— For more on this story, see the Jan. 18 New Hampton Tribune.