CORONER: Experience, training matter

I feel that it’s important for the voters of Kootenai County to investigate both of the Republican candidates in the coroners race with care; there is a clear standout of the two candidates.

Mark Manteuffel and I worked together in the emergency department at Kootenai Health for 13 years and I have known him for more than 20 years. In that time I saw Mark’s integrity, skill and training put to use in the effective practice of emergency medicine in a busy and growing emergency department. I ask the voters to carefully compare the training and experience the two coroner candidates bring to the table.

Mark Manteuffel has dedicated himself to the practice of emergency medicine (not simply “emphasized” emergency medicine in one year of residency training) for well over 20 years; that equates to >100,000 patient encounters over the course of his career. He is trained and became board certified in family medicine (he didn’t simply hang up his shingle in “general medicine”). Mark’s credentials and experience are unmatched in this race. The residents of Kootenai County need/deserve a coroner with his level of experience. Politics/party affiliation have no role in this office; experience, credentials and training are all that matter.

Furthermore the suggestion that “rewriting the narrative“ (https://youtu.be/Pm6guGKWbuo) by changing cause of death on death certificates will call into question the credibility of the office and potentially impact criminal investigations.

Clearly, Mark Manteuffel is the only choice.

ANTHONY RUSSO, MD, ABEM

Hayden