The state Department of Human Services apparently did not notify coroner’s offices in Illinois’s largest counties, including Sangamon, when a disabled adult who was living at home died.
That’s according to the Belleville News Democrat, which has been investigating the failure of that agency’s inspector general to investigate deaths that may have been linked to abuse or neglect.
The head of the Illinois Coroner’s Association says a heads-up from the department could have allowed coroners in those counties to order autopsies and preserve evidence for possible criminal investigations.
A DHS spokesperson says the agency did contact officials in those counties in many cases, but didn’t always document that contact.
