Burkhardt, who is Swinehart’s junior by nine days, has been without a deputy coroner since former deputy coroner Terrance Conti left the job in February when his medical license was suspended after he was investigated for prescribing excessive amounts of painkillers for Burkhardt’s wife, Marilyn, at his private practice.
Swinehart, who is a retired hospital pathologist, finds forensic work fascinating, but never aspired to be a county coroner. He still doesn’t and because he lives in Hamilton County, he cannot run for the office.
But Swinehart realized Burkhardt needed some backup and was more that happy to step up.
“I want to give the office a little bit more stability,” Swinehart said Thursday during a break from a morning autopsy at the county morgue.
The son of a dentist, Swinehart was one of just a handful of forensic pathologists in the area when he graduated from Indiana University.
The while working as a pathologist at Mercy Hospital Hamilton and Mercy Fairfield, he performed autopsies first for Dr. Garret Boone, then Burkhardt.
Swinehart admits the specialized profession isn’t for all doctors, which is part of the reason he believes there’s no interest in taking over the coroner’s job.
“You know as a physician, you try to save lives,” Swinehart said. “Dealing with death is a difficult transition for some guys. Truth is not many people want to do it.”
But, for him the mystery of looking for the cause of death has always been the interest.
“It is like opening up a surprise package,” Swinehart said. “Until you look, you just don’t know what you will find.”
Burkhardt said last week he is glad to have Swinehart’s assistance not only at the morgue but as a deputy coroner who can make decisions if he is not available or on vacation.
“He’s been around longer than me,” Burkhardt said with a smile. He said they work well together. Swinehart’s pay is $700 a case, $750 for homicide cases. That has not changed with his new position, Burkhardt said.
“I didn’t do it for monetary reasons,” said Swinehart said.
Burkhardt, who has suffered from heart issues and strokes, voluntarily gave up his DEA license to prescribe narcotics after he was questioned by federal authorities about prescriptions he had written for a staff member and an employee’s elderly father.
As coroner, Burkhardt wrote so few prescriptions that he remembered every detail — the place, time and for what purpose, but on the heals of the Conti investigation, federal authorities said the prescriptions were not properly documented.
Swinehart said he does not know anything about Conti’s troubles with the state medical board because it had nothing to do with the coroner’s office.
“But I have known Dr. Burkhardt for 30-plus years. He has done a great job. I don’t believe he was treated fairly,” Swinehart. Now he said it is time for him to give back to Butler County and Burkhardt.
Marilyn Burkhardt, who suffers from a back and neck condition, said last week she and her husband are still hoping to retire soon.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.
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