Michigan doctor under fire: 22 autopsy reports withheld from UP families

MARQUETTE, MI — Officials in the Upper Peninsula’s Marquette County are alleging a controversial Saginaw Township doctor has left more than 20 families in the lurch as they await their loved ones’ autopsy results. Their boiling-over frustration is leading some to call for the state to revoke the doctor’s medical license.

Marquette County in 2022 contracted with Dr. David L. Stockman’s Michigan Institute of Forensic Science & Medicine to provide medical examination duties such as investigating causes of death and performing autopsies.

During the county Board of Commissioners’ Tuesday, May 6, meeting, civil counsel Karl Numinen addressed the problems the county has endured since contracting with MIFSM.

“We’ve had significant difficulties with this entity, not the least of which is, right now as we speak, they’ve got 22 autopsy reports that I’m told they finished the services,” Numinen said. “They just won’t release the reports for some reason. It’s critical that we get those reports because that’s what the county clerk needs to have in order for them to process death certificates.”

The death certificates are necessary for the decedents’ beneficiaries to receive life insurance proceeds and other benefits they’re entitled to, Numinen continued.

“We’re hamstrung because the medical examiner that we contracted with won’t do their job,” he said. He recommended the board terminate MIFSM’s contract and, if necessary, file a lawsuit against Stockman and MIFSM to get the reports they’ve paid for.

Chairman Joseph Derocha said MIFSM has been causing headaches for more than a year and a half, leading the board to terminate its contract in April. They hired Dickinson County to provide medical examination duties going forward, the transition having been seamless, Derocha said.

“For whatever reason, this medical examiner out of Saginaw that we were contracted with has felt the need to not complete his job and it’s unacceptable,” Derocha said. “I’d like to see civil counsel go after his license with LARA (the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs). We simply can’t allow this to happen and we can’t take it laying down.”

Vicechair Bill Nordeen made a motion for civil counsel to obtain the outstanding reports from MIFSM and take legal action against the entity if needed.

Commissioner Karen Alholm supported the motion.

Alholm asked Numinen if Stockman has given a reason for not sending the finalized reports.

“It’s just baffling to me,” Numinen responded. He said he last spoke to Stockman about a month ago to complain about lacking communication from his staff, even on minor matters. Stockman told him he had fired some of his employees but that all of the autopsy work was finished.

Stockman can send the death certificates to Marquette County Clerk Linda Talsma electronically but has not done so, Numinen said.

Derocha has been calling Stockman on a daily basis, also getting nowhere.

Nordeen did not mince words in voicing his displeasure with MIFSM.

“It’s one of the worst things that I’ve ever heard happen to Marquette County,” he said. “And I feel bad because these 22 families are contacting Linda (Talsma, clerk) or contacting us saying, ‘What is wrong with Marquette County?’ We’re trying to get some resolution to this and it’s not acceptable.

“My God, these families cannot move on,” he continued. “There’s one out there from November of last year!”

Derocha also drove home he is not amused by Stockman’s delaying tactics.

“Whether this company thinks they’re being cute with Marquette County, take his license, maybe it’ll get his attention,” he said.

Stockman’s licenses to practice medicine and prescribe medication expire Sept. 8.

Bankruptcy matter

Stockman has been facing a deluge of lawsuits and default judgments against him and his numerous entities. He’s filed, or at least tried to file, bankruptcy at least three times in recent months.

Stockman on March 28 was to appear before Saginaw County Business Court Judge M. Randall Jurrens for a debtor discovery examination in a lawsuit filed against him by Saginaw County Medical Examiner Dr. Russell L. Bush.

Saginaw County in 2019 entered a 10-year contract with MIFSM to provide medical examination duties such as investigating causes of death and performing autopsies. MIFSM hired Bush, the county’s medical examiner since 2014, and designated him as the “assigned personnel.” Stockman fired Bush in November 2021 but claimed to county officials he had “stepped down,” according to public records.

MIFSM also issued a media release in April 2022 stating Bush was fired for “incompetence and misleading/potentially false credentials.”

The county terminated its contract in 2021 due to Bush’s unauthorized termination and Stockman allegedly performing autopsies without proper certification. Thereafter, the county reaffirmed Bush as its medical examiner.

Bush’s lawsuit went to arbitration overseen by Kenneth W. Schmidt, a former Bay County Circuit Court judge, who in late February 2025 issued an opinion finding Stockman and MIFSM owed Bush $551,800. Schmidt also found Stockman acted with intent and malice in defaming Bush.

Stockman skipped his March 28 appearance before Jurrens as he was in South Carolina to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy on behalf of another of his entities, Specialized Pathology Partners. Previous court records gave SPP’s address as 4798 Wenmar Drive in Saginaw Township, though the bankruptcy filing gives its address as a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Charleston, South Carolina.

Records with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs show SPP was dissolved in May 2024. Those records show Stockman was the entity’s president, director, treasurer, and secretary.

Stockman filed the bankruptcy for his corporation without an attorney’s representation, something that is not permitted. Due to this, a judge dismissed the South Carolina bankruptcy filing on April 28.

Stockman on April 4 filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on MIFSM’s behalf, putting an automatic stay on Jurrens signing a judgment against him in Bush’s favor. Stockman was due back before Jurrens on May 5 for the judge to sign the order in Bush’s favor, but he again delayed proceedings by claiming he filed individual Chapter 11 bankruptcy that morning.

A telephonic meeting of creditors is scheduled in that case for June 3.

Lawsuits & judgments

Stockman, a dermatopathologist, has been the subject of at least three default judgments against him. Judge Jurrens in August 2023 issued such a judgment against the doctor and SPP in favor of federal savings bank TIAA. TIAA in 2017 and 2019 agreed to lease Stockman and SPP ultrasound and radiology machines.

Stockman/SPP did not make payments on or return the leased equipment.

Jurrens ordered SPP to pay $122,292.42 and Stockman to pay $12,610.86. He further ordered the defendants to pay $6,792.82 to TIAA in costs and attorney fees.

Stockman has made no payments to TIAA or returned the leased equipment, confirmed an attorney representing the bank.

Jurrens in August 2024 issued a second default judgment against Stockman, his entities Michigan Health Clinics and Great Lakes Bay Staffing Inc., and MHC Administrative Director Magdalena Perez ordering them to pay $131,626.18 to Wildfire Credit Union. Jurrens issued a third default judgment against Stockman on behalf of forensic pathologist Dr. Donald Higgs for about $55,000.

Higgs moved his family from New York to Michigan to work for Stockman at MIFSM in 2023. The checks Higgs received as payment bounced, he alleged.

Higgs has been receiving payments through garnishments of several Michigan counties served by MIFSM, confirmed his attorney, Stephan M. Gaus.

Higgs also filed a police report over the matter. Saginaw County prosecutors in June 2024 contacted the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to request a special prosecutor evaluate the case. The AG’s Office in September referred the matter to the Tuscola County Prosecutor’s Office.

Tuscola County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mark E. Reene on May 6 confirmed the matter is still under review.

At least three physicians in other states have also sued Stockman and his entities.

Dr. Robert Odze, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, in February 2023 filed a lawsuit against Stockman and Michigan Health Clinic in the Superior Court of Massachusetts’ Suffolk County. MHC is a corporation Stockman owns at 3925 Fortune Blvd. in Saginaw Township.

Washington, D.C.-based dermatologist Dr. Kishore L. Jayakumar in June 2023 filed a federal suit against Stockman and MHC, claiming they did not pay him an estimated $142,369.20 he was owed for his work.

Dr. Elizabeth Morrison, an endocrinologist based in Eugene, Oregon, worked for Stockman and his Michigan Health Clinics from June 2022 through May 31, 2023. She was contracted to provide endocrinology and internal medicine services through July 2025, for which Stockman was to pay her a yearly salary and benefits valuing $155,000, plus compensation based on performance incentives, according to her lawsuit.

However, MHC emailed Morrison a termination letter on May 8, 2023. On May 31, Morrison learned of a third-party making changes to her medical services’ billing codes and patient charts, resulting in overcharging. She shared her concerns with Stockman, expressing that overcharges could be considered fraud.

Morrison that evening received an email from MHC Administrative Director Perez stating her billing was inaccurate. Perez went on to give Morrison a “demeaning and bad-faith offer” to continue working at 60% her promised salary, Morrison’s suit states. Morrison did not accept the offer.

Stockman and MHC did not pay Morrison the $14,564.58 she earned during her last month of work, her suit alleges. This prompted Morrison in July 2023 to file suit against Stockman and MHC in U.S. District Court.

The parties reached a settlement in October 2023 with MHC agreeing to pay Morrison $21,846.87 in exchange for dropping her federal lawsuit. Stockman issued a personal guarantee assuring full payment would be made.

Since then, though, Stockman has failed to pay any of what he owes Morrison. Morrison’s Lansing-based attorney, Andrew G. Martin, in February 2024 emailed Stockman’s counsel to demand their client adhere to his obligations. Stockman’s attorneys replied that Morrison could expect payment within a few days.

Martin followed up with Stockman’s counsel in the following weeks but Morrison still never received payment.

Martin in July 2024 filed another lawsuit on Morrison’s behalf, this one in Saginaw County Circuit Court.

“After weeks of good-faith attempts to reach a resolution and accommodate a payment plan for MHC, (Morrison) is left no other choice but to bring this action for enforcement of the Settlement Agreement and to remedy the unjust enrichment at her expense,” Martin wrote in the suit.

Martin has since filed a motion seeking default judgment in Morrison’s favor.

Stockman could not be reached for comment.

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