To the Fellow Members of MAME:

On November 27, 2023, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services notified MAME by email that they had posted an opening for the new position, created within their department, of Michigan State Medical Examiner. As this was our first knowledge of the creation of this high-level position, which would directly affect all of the medical examiner work in the state, we were quite disappointed to have not been consulted ahead of time.

We sent a letter on December 15^th, 2023 stating our concerns to the DHHS Director, which led to a virtual meeting on January 29^th. This meeting included several MAME EC members and several MDHHS members, including the Chief Medical Executive. This meeting was brief but our hope is that this meeting will generate some very detailed, substantial and productive subsequent meetings. We feel there are many details and issues that need to be addressed and worked out before a State ME position would be appropriate. Further updates will be provided as this process progresses.

Please feel free to contact me any time with questions or concerns regarding this. I can be reached at cwhawkins@charter.net or at 231-357-5088.

Sincerely,

Carl

Carl W. Hawkins, MD

President, MAME

On behalf of the MAME Executive Committee