Article content continued

NAAG Pathology Labs has denied any wrongdoing.

At a news conference last week, Graves told local media she was horrified at the new direction taken by the former Calgary pathologists, who allegedly told staff when they took over the office late last year that they needed to collect organ and tissue samples from children who died naturally to create a control group for research into fatal abuse cases.

“On these children, it didn’t matter what the cause of death was. They took the brains, the spinal cords, the spinal columns from the neck, sometimes parts of ribs, sometimes parts of legs, the heart, the lungs, the eyeballs — all shipped to San Diego,” she told reporters.

“When you’re doing it on children that you don’t need to have the tissues they’re taking to determine the cause of death, it’s not right in any sense of the word.”

Attorney Kevin Glasheen, who’s representing Graves, said in addition to the financial award, the lawsuit is also calling on the county to let her return to work.

“Ms. Graves is a hero for exposing these California body snatchers who have taken over the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office,” he said in a news release.

“Of course, they immediately fired her for doing so — and now we are going to make them pay.”

Photo by Postmedia Archives

Lt. Bryan Witt with the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed to Postmedia that Texas Rangers, who investigate major crimes in the state, are investigating Lubbock’s medical examiner’s office, but declined to discuss details.