Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced he appointed the Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson to sit on Florida’s Medical Examiners Commission for the following three years.
Johnson stated he’s honored that DeSantis chosen him to fill the one sheriff’s seat on the fee the place he’ll make necessary choices relating to state and native medical experts.
“I’m honored to be chosen, that’s for sure,” Johnson stated. “There’s 67 sheriffs in the state of Florida, and that’s out of 23 million people, so we’re pretty specialized as it is, but then to get selected out of that to be on this commission is pretty humbling.”
Johnson says he’ll assist make coverage for the medical experts statewide, in addition to maintain them accountable throughout their particular person tenures.
“Basically, what we do is we investigate alleged misconduct by medical examiners, and we also do surveys with all the constituents throughout the state to make sure the governor reappoints good medical examiners,” Johnson stated. “If we get a lot of complaints of a medical examiner somewhere, we’ll interview the constituents and if most of the people in that area don’t want them, it’s possible the governor could put somebody else in their place.”
Pensacola medical expert:Escambia County needs to examine conserving Medical Examiner’s Office in Pensacola
Governor stops in Santa Rosa:Gov. Ron DeSantis stops in Milton to announce $144M in rural Florida broadband funding
Aside from having the authority to examine, take away or droop medical experts below state legislation, Johnson and the remainder of the fee can even oversee the distribution of state funds to the 25 medical expert districts all through the state.
“It’s going to be something new for me,” he stated. “I’m not used to dealing that much with the medical examiner, per se, I used to in Major Crimes (unit) but as a sheriff I don’t have a lot of dealings with them, so this will be something new for me.”
According to Florida Statute 406.02, the fee will embody 9 members with Florida’s governor appointing seven. The 9 sitting members should be comprised of two licensed physicians who’re lively medical experts, one licensed funeral director, one state lawyer, one public defender, one sheriff, one county commissioner, the lawyer normal or a proxy, and the surgeon normal or a proxy.
Here are the individuals who will be part of Johnson on the fee:
- Barbara Wolf, District 5 medical expert and District 24 interim district medical expert
- Robin Giddens Sheppard, Hardage-Giddens funeral director
- Kenneth Jones, Florida Department of Health state registrar
- Charlie Cofer, public defender of Fourth Judicial Circuit
- Nick Cox, statewide prosecutor for the lawyer normal
- Joshua Stephany, District 9 medical expert
- Amira Fox, state lawyer of Twentieth Judicial Circuit
- Michael Barnett, Palm Beach County commissioner