Hazleton Police seeking Wapwallopen woman in fentanyl case

February 19, 2019

Through his attorney, local funeral director Brian Leffler sent a letter to Luzerne County officials this week urging them not to select any funeral director as the next county coroner.

Attorney Jason G. Benion, of Harrisburg-based Post & Schell, said he was writing the letter on behalf of Leffler, owner of Kniffen O’Malley Leffler Funeral & Cremation Services, because the county is now seeking applicants for the coroner post.

The communication referenced and included a previous letter Leffler sent to county officials in January expressing concerns about his allegation that Chief Deputy Coroner Daniel J. Hughes used “his office for private benefit by steering business to his funeral home.”

Coroner William Lisman is retiring effective March 9 after 43 years working in the office. Applications for the position are due Feb. 26.

Both the Benion and Leffler letters were sent to county Manager C. David Pedri, the county council clerk and county Judicial Services and Records Division Head Joan Hoggarth.

Pedri said Tuesday he has referred the matter to the county’s law division and human resources department for their review.

Hughes said he was unaware of the letter.

“Anybody can make allegations about anything. As far as the truth of the allegation, that’s a whole other story,” said Hughes.

He deferred further comment on the matter to Pedri, citing a county policy requiring manager clearance for office comments to the media beyond discussions of the cause and manner of a death.

Benion’s letter says no funeral directors should be hired because they would have “unavoidable conflicts of interest” serving as coroner and because most, particularly those at small funeral homes, are “inherently unable to meet the requirements of the position given their outside employment.”

“The opportunity and incentive for a funeral director to abuse the coroner position for personal gain is simply too great to place any funeral director in that role. Indeed, the appearance of impropriety alone is enough to be disqualifying,” it said.

‘Competition … fierce’

According to Benion’s letter:

The “most obvious” conflict would be the potential for a funeral director to “steer business” to his or her funeral home.

The recently bereaved are “especially vulnerable to influence.” The National Funeral Directors Association concluded the median cost of a funeral was $8,755 in 2017.

“The next of kin must make this significant financial decision under the emotional strain of bereavement, under tight time constraints, and, often, never having arranged a funeral before — circumstances that the Federal Trade Commission has found ‘reduce the ability of consumers to make careful, informed purchase decisions,’” it said.

Coroners are often the first or among the first on scene after deaths outside medical facilities, creating circumstances requiring “very little suggestion” for a funeral director filling that role to “persuade the next of kin to use his private funeral services.”

“Competition in the death care industry is fierce” it says, noting there are an estimated 112 funeral homes in the county. About 4,000 people die in the county annually, leaving about 35 services per funeral home. Profit margins continue to shrink because the number of county families choosing the lower-cost cremation option is now around 50 percent.

The coroner’s job description includes a requirement to transport remains to the county morgue, private mortuary facilities or elsewhere based on the wishes of survivors, which means interaction between the coroner and family about funeral services is “essentially unavoidable,” it said.

Serving as coroner also opens up access to potential customers outside of a typical service area, the letter said, indicating the majority of a funeral home’s customers traditionally come from a small geographic radius around the funeral home. With cremation, survivors may never “actually step foot in the funeral home.”

“Even a well-intentioned funeral director-coroner may end up with more business simply by being the first to interact with a family searching for a way to move through a trying time as quickly and painlessly as possible,” the letter stated.

Previously an elected post

This is only the second time the administration is hiring a coroner because Lisman has been overseeing that office since the January 2012 switch to a home rule government structure, which changed the coroner post from elected to appointed. Pedri has said the administration is open to applicants from a variety of backgrounds who meet the unique skill set.

Lisman has experience as both a funeral director and deputy coroner, although he ended his work as a third-generation overseer of his family’s funeral home in 2009. He worked as chief deputy coroner under coroners George Hudock, Jack Consalvo and John Corcoran and previously was employed as a per diem coroner deputy and full-time coroner field investigator.

Corcoran, the county’s final elected coroner, also was a funeral director. He served from 2008 through 2011.

Consalvo, a physician, served as coroner before Corcoran. Consalvo was appointed to fill the seat in March 2006 after the death of Hudock.

A doctor and pathologist, Hudock was the county’s elected coroner from 1969 until his death in October 2005.

In addition to funeral directors and medical professionals, other counties have selected coroners with law enforcement backgrounds.

If a funeral director is selected here, the county has an ethics code ban specifically for coroners and deputy coroners prohibiting them from soliciting, discussing or accepting business for their funeral home while engaged in county business.

The county personnel policy also contains a provision governing any outside employment. It says workers must obtain clearance from the county verifying the outside work won’t interfere with their county job. Prohibitions include second jobs that would prevent county employees from working beyond normal working hours in emergencies or peak work periods or require them to work during county business hours.

Hughes is a staff deputy coroner. The county also employs non-staff deputies who are usually funeral directors who handle routine cases throughout the county for $100 using their own vehicles and equipment, including calls in the middle of the night on a weekend in bad weather. Lisman has attributed the office’s low budget to the non-staff deputies.

Local funeral director Brian Leffler, photographed at his business in 2017, is urging Luzerne County officials not to hire a funeral director as the next county coroner.