Dr. Ronald Wright, the bow-tied Broward County medical examiner who has been under fire for a year, lost his job on Friday when Gov. Lawton Chiles picked a Pittsburgh coroner to take his place.
After 13 years as the eccentric keeper of Broward’s morgue, Wright was brought down by a campaign by lawyers who accused him of botching cause-of-death cases, and by opposition from county officials who disliked his handling of the office.
The new medical examiner is Dr. Joshua Perper, 61, a Romanian-born physician and lawyer who has been the elected coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., since 1982.
Perper has worked in Pittsburgh’s morgue since 1972. He became acting coroner in 1980, and he won election every four years since 1982.
“We’re ecstatic,” County Administrator B. Jack Osterholt said. “Dr. Perper has got the operational and the management skills that we need. You really couldn’t ask for much more. He’s calm, settling, he’ll be great.
Perper, whose appointment runs until July 1996, said cooperation with the county would be his top priority.
“I don’t have any intention of criticizing what has happened in the past in Fort Lauderdale,” Perper said. “However, the coroner office here in Allegheny County has a very friendly relationship with the county and the law enforcement offices.”
Perper said his salary had not been set yet, but it is expected to be similar to Wright’s, $135,000 a year.
Wright, 49, blamed politics for the loss of his job. He lashed at his critics.
“I’m not bitter, but disappointed,” Wright said. “Obviously, a vast amount of time and money were expended to get rid of me, so I kind of expected it to work.”
Wright built a quirky reputation as head of the $2.4 million-a-year morgue, which handles 2,100 autopsies and determines the cause of 9,000 deaths every year.
Bespectacled and wry of wit, Wright at times said controversial things. In 1992, he called cocaine an “insignificant” fad. He once declared Broward’s water unfit to drink. He is a licensed doctor, lawyer, pilot and pesticide applicator.
Wright’s problems began a year ago, as a state commission prepared to nominate him for a routine reappointment. In Broward, the medical examiner is picked by the governor, financed by the county and works for the University of Miami, which runs the office under a county contract.
But Fort Lauderdale law partners Walter “Skip” Campbell and Jon Krupnick upset the process. In letters and phone calls, they accused Wright of making questionable cause-of-death decisions in lawsuits they were handling.
In one case, Wright ruled that a Plantation boy who fell on an electric barbecue starter died of a heart attack rather than by electrocution. The boy’s family sued Wright testified on behalf of the manufacturer.
In another case, Wright testified for a Pompano Beach hotel, claiming that a boy who fell through a rusted balcony grate may have been pushed by his baby sitter.
“This was not a vendetta against Wright,” Campbell said. “There were significant problems in his office, what we perceived to be an attempt to sway cases based on unscientific facts.”
Said Wright: “I don’t think the folks involved were very truthful.”
Another problem arose when one of his employees, Dr. Teri Stockham, filed a federal lawsuit against Wright and the county, accusing Wright of tolerating insulting comments against women.
After hearing both sides, county officials criticized Wright’s personnel skills and said the county did not have enough control over the office.
Wright also clashed with Osterholt and county Human Services Director Carolyn Graham over his refusal to turn over data on deaths he had developed using computer software he created.
After publicity on all the accusations, Chiles last summer declined to reappoint Wright and asked a Broward committee to find other candidates to consider as well.
Wright said he had “nothing but disgust” for Osterholt and Graham. He blamed them for lobbying Chiles against him.
“Gee, I’m sorry,” Osterholt said with sarcasm. “I spoke to the governor’s office once. There have been countless numbers of differences we’ve had with Ron.
“Ron is a character. If Ron decides I’m not working in his best interest, he makes that clear to everybody. He does not cooperate.”
Wright faced two main challengers, but one ran into trouble of his own. Dr. Stephen Nelson, now working for Palm Beach County, had left Wright’s office last year after botching causes-of-death rulings.
That left only Perper, an out-of-towner, unscathed.
“When you’ve got three people in a race and two have some strikes against them, you go with the third person. That’s the rule of politics and government,” said Russ Barakat, chairman of the Broward County Democratic Party and a Chiles ally.
Wright supporters had a theory that the county wants to take over choosing the medical examiner and favored Perper because he is close to retirement age.
Osterholt dismissed the theory.
Perper said: “I don’t have any plan for retirement. I am healthy. People work much longer than ever before.”
The long-awaited appointment came on the hectic final day of the Legislature’s 1994 session, a busy day for news. There was no connection, Chiles spokesman Ron Sachs said.
“The governor makes the appointments when he makes the decisions. It was time,” Sachs said.
Perper appointed Wright’s chief deputy, Dr. Raul Vila, as interim medical examiner until Perper arrives, likely within a month. Initially, Vila also had been a candidate for the job.
The rejection of Wright was a blow to attorney Edward Kay, a Broward patronage adviser to Chiles who publicly backed the outgoing medical examiner.
Kay personally lobbied Chiles and even had Wright sit at his table in the front row of the Democratic party’s Jefferson-Jackson fund-raiser last month, where Chiles made a speech.
“Eddie is probably the biggest loser politically,” Barakat said.
Kay sidestepped: “To describe me as winning or losing is immaterial compared to what’s good for Broward County. The governor did what he thinks is good, and I support that. I was probably stupid politically to be so publicly out front for Ron Wright, but that’s the way I am.”
