CORONERS
Claim your CMEs if you attended.
To claim your CMEs for this education session, please use the link in the button below.
*Each person must have registered with their own email address to obtain CME credit for the this education event.
LOPA Coroner Forensic Collaborative
Accreditation
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of Ochsner Clinic Foundation and the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency. The Ochsner Clinic Foundation is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Designation
The Ochsner Clinic Foundation designates this live activity for a maximum of 15.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure
The Ochsner Clinic Foundation relies upon everyone in control of content at all sponsored continuing medical education activities to provide information objectively and free from bias. In accordance with ACCME and institutional guidelines, the faculty for this continuing medical education activity has been asked to complete the CME Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships form. If anyone involved in control of content for the activity does disclose a relationship with an ineligible company, their materials have been peer reviewed to mitigate any potential bias.
LOPA collaborates with all Louisiana Parish Coroners and the Louisiana State Coroners Association in support of our efforts to save lives. Building these strong partnerships help us ensure quality throughout the donation process, and service to the families that give and receive the Gift of Life through organ, tissue and eye donation.
Non-hospital death referrals by coroner offices, along with assistance when required in hospital initiated referrals, maximize opportunities for healing transplantation. LOPA takes a hands-on approach to education initiatives relative to coroner practices and procedures, implements effective communication plans with coroners’ offices, partners for donation awareness campaigns, and provides a dedicated staff for coroner needs.
Through LOPA’s Coroner subcommittee, which was established in 2010, LOPA staff, coroners and investigators work together to ensure each family has the opportunity to donate, while preserving evidence in order for coroners to determine manner and cause of death. Our collaborative efforts help LOPA strive to meet our goal of zero denials. This committee plays an integral role in not only involving coroners in hospital education, but also facilitating and steering statewide coroner continuing education, namely through the annual Coroner Collaborative.
“Life trumps death every time.” - Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office
Amie’s Gift
Amie Melancon was an outgoing, funny, family oriented mother of two. Her sister, Stacey, described Amie as an extremely caring person, willing to do anything for anyone else, and her best friend. Amie also struggled for years with depression, and in April of 2019, suffered a fatal overdose and became an organ donor.
Jefferson Parish coroner, Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich, says stories like Amie’s are becoming more and more common as the opioid crisis has reached epidemic levels. The addiction does not discriminate, and many don’t even know what they are getting when they start buying off the street. Dr. Gerry and his staff work closely with LOPA on these cases, because if donation is an option, he says it is the only good thing to come out of these tragedies.
Learn how Amie’s family honored her giving nature, and how in doing so, their family expanded.
