Potter County will move forward with a new agreement for medical examiner services after commissioners unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with Lubbock County during Monday's regular meeting.
According to 47th District Attorney Jason Herring, the new agreement is expected to save the county money while also giving prosecutors more confidence in the qualifications of the forensic pathologists handling Potter County cases.
The district attorney's office previously worked with Dr. Thomas Richard Parsons at South Plains Forensic Pathology. After Parsons retired in 2025, the work shifted to Dr. Luisa Florez at Texas Panhandle Forensics.
Herring told commissioners there had long been an informal understanding that whenever a new forensic pathologist was brought in, the district attorney's office would receive that doctor's resume and qualifications before they began working Potter County cases.
“There was always kind of a gentleman’s agreement in place that when either Dr. Parsons or Dr. Flores brought in a new forensic pathologist, that before they touched our business or those cases that are going through the prosecutor’s office, they would provide the CV and all the qualifications for that doc before those autopsies were performed,” Herring said.
That understanding, however, was never included in a written agreement with Texas Panhandle Forensics. Herring said as new doctors were hired, the district attorney's office often didn't know who had performed an autopsy until the final report arrived.
The new agreement also changes how autopsies are billed. Instead of costs varying based on the condition of the deceased, the county will pay a flat rate.
“What it costs them to do an autopsy, no matter what the decedent’s status is, it’s now a fixed price instead of an escalator,” Herring said.
