Maryland’s chief medical examiner resigned abruptly Friday as the office continues to navigate an unprecedented backlog that recently forced state officials to ask the federal government for assistance.

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       Victor Weedn served as the head of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, one of the busiest morgues in the country, since 2019. The news of his resignation followed a Friday morning meeting of the Post Mortem Examiners Commission, a panel that is responsible for oversight of the medical examiner’s office.

       The commission announced in a release late Friday afternoon that effective immediately, Pamela E. Southall, a deputy medical examiner, will serve as interim chief medical examiner.

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       “The Post Mortem Examiners Commission welcomes Dr. Southall and looks forward to her leadership at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) during a critical time,” the statement reads. “The Commission thanks Dr. Victor Weedn for his service to the state and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.”

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       In recent weeks, the state medical examiner’s office has had more than 200 bodies awaiting autopsies, the biggest backlog the office has seen.

       The logjam has left families distraught as they experience extended delays in funerals. It has also created problems with some prosecutions, with holdups in courts obtaining autopsy reports and getting stand-in medical examiners for murder trials.

       Maryland medical examiner’s office faces backlog, affecting funerals and investigations

       In the past couple of months, the caseload in Maryland has increased by nearly 400 percent. There were 50 bodies awaiting autopsies in late December. The number swelled to 240 last week.

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       Weedn recently estimated that the office would have a backlog of 300 this month. He and other medical examiners across the country have blamed backlogs on a combination of staffing shortages and rising deaths because of violence, covid-19 and drug overdoses.

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       The morgue did not have the capacity to hold all of the bodies, and for weeks, before the office secured storage off-site, employees had complained about bodies in the halls and the smell of decomposition.

       Earlier this week, a team of five fatality management experts from the National Disaster Medical System was deployed to provide support to the office. A spokesman for the health department would not comment on how many bodies were awaiting autopsies Friday.