LUBBOCK, TX (KWES) - The Appointed Chief Medical Examiner for Lubbock County, Dr. Sam Andrews, is being accused by County Commissioner Jason Corley (Precinct #2) of illegal organ harvesting and assisting in autopsies with a doctor who did not have a license to practice medicine in the State of Texas.
Among the list of complaints the county commissioner submitted was that of illegal organ harvesting of a young Midland victim who was killed in an explosion back in August 2018.
In a memo to County Judge Curtis Parrish, Andrews stated that he believes Corley had “wantonly and knowingly, and with malicious intent, made defamatory statements” about him, the Medical Examiner’s Office and the NAAG Pathology Labs PC.
The medical examiner believes Corley told multiple lies and spread rumors. These rumors included that Andrews had reportedly been cutting off the fingers of dead children, selling body parts and performing illegal research. In his response, Corley denies knowing where the specific comments of harvesting children’s fingers came from and says he cannot confirm or refute this information.
Andrews stated he believes the rumors were a way to deflect attention from concerns raised about the work quality of the prior medical examiner and his staff. He also claims in the memo that Corley has attempted on more than one occasion to interfere with his office functions including circumventing the hiring and firing of employees.
One last complaint of Dr. Andrews was that Corley reportedly has demanded to be present when an infant or child has died in order to see the remains. Based on this Corley was banned from attending all autopsies. However, in Corley’s response he states that he asked to be present for autopsies of those under the age of 10 to ensure this was not a continuing practice.
Andrews believes Corley is obstructing governmental operations and official power, violating the Texas Penal Code and the Texas Ethics Commission.
It is a fundamental expectation that I, as a forensic pathologist in the role of your appointed Chief Medical Examiner, be free of political influence, which includes being free from fear of my personal safety, the safety of my staff, and free from the fear of all forms of retaliation. Mr. Corley’s actions have resulted in the creation of a hostile workplace, one in which no physician would or could feel safe to practice medicine.
In his response to Andrews’ memo, Corley stated that he had concerns about the practices of the medical examiner’s office. Corley intended to determine whether taxpayers are subsidizing the improper harvesting of body tissue of decedents and whether the National Autopsy Assay Group (NAAG) has violated its contract with Lubbock County.
The commissioner insists he only met Andrews one time on January 1, 2019 when he was invited to the office to observe an autopsy. The next time he went to the medical examiner’s office was on January 18, but Andrews refused to see him.
Corley insists his accusations against Andrews are not based on malice but rather reports of botched cases.
The county commissioner claims Andrews worked with Dr. Evan Matshes of NAAG. On August 14, 2018, Matshes reportedly performed autopsies on two deceased children. However, Corley said he was not licensed to practice medicine in the state. After being confronted with this fact, Matshes claimed he was simply training other present how autopsies should be performed under NAAG. Dr. Andrews was one of the people present.
In his response, Corley mentions that Dr. Matshes has published multiple academic articles on shaken baby syndrome. However, after Matshes was fired from medical examiner offices in Alberta, New Mexico and Florida he has had a lack of access to bodies for research, particularly those of children. Corley believes this gives Matshes motivation to harvest tissue.
Corley states that three children who came through NAAG had multiple organs harvested. One of these children was killed in an accidental natural gas explosion. The child in question was killed in an explosion in Midland County that took place on August 9, 2018. The rest of the family survived the explosion.
Because the death was clearly an accident, Corley says the doctors did not perform what would be considered a standard autopsy for the situation. The harvesting of full organs had no forensic justification and was again done by a doctor without a proper license.
The gas line that ran under the mobile home was leaking. There was no suspicion of homicide; it was clearly an accidental death. The normal practice following such a death would be to perform a standard autopsy, with preservation of small, exemplary portions of tissue from each organ for potential microscopic inspection, never whole organs.
In addition to this, Corley has accused Matshes of performing unnecessary organ harvesting on other victims with Andrews assisting.
Because of this reasoning, Corley states that he believes NAAG has violated its contract with Lubbock County. The National Association of Medical Examiner’s guidelines prohibit this form of tissue collection without family consent and removal and retention of these tissues for research purposes is not permitted.
The accusations against Andrews were primarily that he had assisted Dr. Matshes. The unlicensed practice of medicine is considered a felony and anyone who assists or encourages this activity is considered complicit in that crime.
As the Commissioners of the County of Lubbock, we represent the citizens of our country. And we are the stewards of the County’s tax revenues. We are entitled to, and have a duty to, exercise oversight regarding county contracts. The conduct of NAAG, Sam Andrews, and Evan Matshes justifies terminating the contract with NAAG and finding a new ME.