Maine’s deputy chief medical examiner has been disciplined by a state licensing board after he was charged with driving while drunk in September.

Dr. Liam Funte, 60, was on call when he was arrested in Portland on Sept. 2, 2023, and charged with operating under the influence.

Funte is second in command at the Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and often handles autopsies for state investigations, most notably homicides, which can occur at any time. He testifies in trials and shares medical opinions that can lead to convictions.

He was also the office’s de facto leader for the last six months after former Chief Medical Examiner Mark Flomenbaum retired in December. Dr. Alice Briones was sworn into the position on July 15.

Funte’s file for the OUI case does not include a plea and the case is pending in Cumberland County Superior Court. However, according to a consent decree Funte signed with the Maine Board of Medical Licensure on July 17, he “recognized this as a serious issue.”

An attorney who represented him in front of the licensing board said in a phone interview Friday that Funte is “a great physician and does a very good job as a medical examiner.”

“The issues that arose did not affect any case that he has worked on,” said Ken Lehman. “The consent agreement is for him to continue with his treatment, but that’s not relevant to the work that he does.”

Lehman said Funte has served the state medical examiner’s office well, despite staffing changes and shortages. He also said that being “on call” in the medical examiner’s office is different than at a hospital or surgical center because autopsies often take place the day after a death.

Funte did not respond to an email Friday afternoon asking to discuss his agreement with the licensing board or the OUI case. His criminal defense attorney did not respond to messages asking about the case.

A spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office said they were aware of the board’s action but had no further comment on the matter.

Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which works closely with Funte’s team and relies on them in criminal prosecutions, said defense lawyers were notified of the disciplinary action as soon as they learned of it.

“Any trial issues related to the consent decree will be addressed at the time of trial,” Hayes wrote in an email.

THE ARREST

The state licensing board initiated a complaint against Funte on Nov. 29, a couple of months after an unnamed physician reported that Funte had been arrested. Funte had come forward on Sept. 26, which was more than three weeks after his arrest and beyond the 10-day deadline required by the board.

In a response to the complaint, Funte told the board in January that he was already participating in a three-day driver education program and had completed an evaluation with a certified alcohol and drug counselor, who said Funte’s “risk to reoffend is (a) low risk as long as he continues to abstain.”

But two random tests in June showed he had still been drinking. Funte later admitted this to the board but said that when it happened he wasn’t on call or at work.

The board wrote that it’s able to impose discipline when there is any professional misconduct or when misuse of alcohol might lead a licensee to “endanger the health or safety of patients.”

Funte agreed to be monitored by the Maine Professionals Health Program for at least five years. He will have to abstain from all alcohol and any non-prescribed substance use, and both the state licensing board and the attorney general’s office will receive monthly compliance reports.

Should he be caught drinking again, or trying to hide his drinking, Funte could be suspended or lose his medical license.

PRIOR DISCIPLINE

Funte has been disciplined by the medical examiner’s office once before.

In December 2020, he was put on a 30-day unpaid suspension, though it’s unclear what prompted the discipline, according to a copy of the document provided to the Press Herald in response to a public records request.

The medical examiner’s office refused to answer questions about the 2020 discipline or turn over further documentation.

“Investigation into allegations that you displayed inappropriate and disruptive behavior that could negatively impact the reputation and work of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and your own reputation as the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner has been substantiated,” the record states.

Funte called the action “unjust and unlawfully discriminatory,” in a brief response, but the agency denied multiple requests to turn over the letter Funte had sent in response.

Before coming to Maine in 2018, Funte served as a deputy medical examiner in Mississippi.

There, he and other state officials recently were the subject of a lawsuit that claimed Funte’s office falsely said the death of a woman’s newborn daughter was a homicide by strangulation. The lawsuit was dismissed on May 30, according to federal court records.

The woman, Jocelyn Welch, was arrested based on medical examiners’ opinions. However, hospital records later showed the girl died from a medical condition and the injuries to her body were from medical staff who were trying to save her. The murder charge was later dropped.

Funte had denied the allegations through an attorney and argued he was protected under qualified immunity, a legal doctrine for public employees protecting them from liability for actions performed while they’re working.