Ross County Coroner's Office Mission Statement

Transcription

1 2016 ANNUAL REPORT

2 Ross County Coroner's Office Mission Statement The mission of the Ross County Coroner's Office is to serve and protect the health and safety of the community by maintaining the highest standard of professionalism and integrity in determining the cause and manner of death. We are dedicated as a team to conduct independent investigations with the intent to ensure that the circumstances surrounding the death are understood and explained. We seek to enhance the health, safety and well-being of the citizens and guests of Ross County. We speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves

3 Office of the Coroner Ross County, Ohio Jurisdiction Served and ORC Statues We provide twenty-four hour/ seven days a week death investigation for Ross County with a total staff of 9; 1 coroner, 2* deputy coroners, 5** investigators and 1 administrative assistant. We serve an increasing population of 78, 064 according to the 2010 census and responsible for coverage of square miles. Ross County is the second largest county in Ohio, after Ashtabula County. The coroner and all appointed staff have authority through the Ohio Revised Code, Section/Chapter 313: Chapter 313: CORONER *We had 1 deputy coroner drop back to casual in 2016 **We had 1 investigator retire in Dec of 2016; we hired 1 part-time and 1 reserve investigator in October of 2016, they will start taking call mid-january 2107.

4 ROSS COUNYT CORONER S OFFICE ANNUAL REPORT was another eventful year for the Ross County Coroner s Office. The opiate epidemic was the issue that we were impacted by the most, as in past years. The Ross County Coroner s Office continues to work with other agencies and partners in the region including my chairing the Heroin Partnership Project, a collaboration between state, county, and local government agencies along with substance abuse treatment providers, law enforcement and community organizations. While the number of drug overdose deaths has not decreased dramatically, the use of Narcan, an opiate drug reversal agent has save more lives this year than last. Since this is an underground or hidden problem, it is hard to accurately measure the influx of illegal drugs into our region. Even though we are impacted by the most drastic end result of the opiate epidemic, we are diligently working to prevent the high number of drug overdose deaths was also a year that saw traffic fatalities increase. There are no common factors that can be targeted to decrease this statistic except to plead with drivers to buckle their seat belts, don t text and drive, slow down, and certainly don t drive impaired. We have had some staff changes in the Ross County Coroner s Office this year. One of our veteran coroner s investigators, Mark Gray, has chosen to follow his vocation and is pastoring a church in Bainbridge. He brought his caring, pastoral approach to his work in the Coroner s Office and we value his contribution tremendously. Good luck, Mark, in your life s work! We continue to standardize our training, policies and procedures. This guarantees highly professional, thorough medicolegal death investigation for those cases that come under the jurisdiction of the Coroner s Office. The dedication of our staff is evident in their performance and interactions with the citizens of Ross County. We look forward to 2017 and seeing a positive impact on the health and safety of our fellow Ross Countians!

5 2016 Ross County Coroner Stats As of 02/24/2017 Total Requests for Investigation 601 Cases Deferred to PCP- 155 Drug Related-1 Hospice Deaths Nursing Home Deaths 145 Other- 3 Coroner Cases / Manner of Death Cases- 153 Natural- 64 Drug Related- 3 Accidental- 73 Drug OD- 40 Drug Related-1 Suicide- 12 Drug OD- 3 Drug Related-1 Homicide- 2 Drug Related- Pending- 1 Drug OD-1 Undetermined-1 Drug OD- Drug Related- Total Autopsies- (28) Montgomery County (28) Total Tox w/o Autopsy (69) Total Tox (96) AIT LAB/AXIS (56) MCCO Lab (26) OSP Lab (14) Scene Responses/External Exams- (102) Removals by Haller s- (73) Unclaimed/Indigent- (3) Unidentified Bodies- 1 Exhumations- Organ/Tissue Donation- (3) Eye Donations- (1 )

6 *Reference the one pending case for 2106, the cause of death is a drug overdose due to Fentanyl but the Manner of Death is still pending investigation.

7 DEHYDRATION, 1 SEPSIS, 1 MULTIPLE UNDETERMINED, SCLEROSIS, 1 HYPOTHERMIA, 1 CHOKING, 1 ES RENAL COLON DROWNING, 1 GI BLEED, 1 LIGATURE DISEASE, 1 CANCER, 1 STRANGULATION, 4 PNEUMONIA, SMOKE ALCOHOLISM, 1 4 INHALATION, MULTIPLE 1 MEDICAL, STROKE, 11 PANCREATITIS, 1 HEAD TRAUMA, 6 BLEEDING ULCER, 1 LUNG DISEASE, 4 GUNSHOT WOUND, 7 DIABETES, 5 PULMONARY EMBOLUS, 2 HIP/FEMUR FX, 5 DRAVET DEMENTIA, 1 SYNDROME, HEART DISEASE, DEATHS BY CAUSE MULTIPLE BLUNT TRAUMA, 19 DRUG OD, 44 MULTIPLE BLUNT TRAUMA DRUG OD HEART DISEASE DIABETES GUNSHOT WOUND LUNG DISEASE HIP/FEMUR FX BLEEDING ULCER HEAD TRAUMA PANCREATITIS MULTIPLE MEDICAL STROKE SMOKE INHALATION PNEUMONIA ALCOHOLISM LIGATURE STRANGULATION GI BLEED

8 CASE STATS COMPARISON (02-15) TOTAL CASES DEFERRED HOSPICE NURSING HOME OTHER 3 3 CORONER CASES NATURAL ACCIDENTAL DRUG OVERDOSES/Related 40/12 44/6 SUICIDES HOMICIDES 3 2 UNDETERMINED 2 0 PENDING N/A 1 AUTOPSIES TOXICOLOGIES SCENE RESPONSES

9 TOTAL DEATH COMPARISON TOTAL DEATHS COMPARISON Total Deaths Deferred Hospice Nursing Home Coroner Cases *Drug Related Other 2016 *Drug Related includes both drug overdose deaths and drug related deaths.

10 2014 TO 2016 AUTOPSY COMPARISON Total Autopsies MCCO *FCCO Notes: Forensic Autopsies cost on average: $ plus $ transport one way *FCCO autopsies are from Ross County incidents that die in Franklin County. Theses autopsies are not ordered by our office but payment of $1300 per autopsy comes out of our budget.

11 Toxicology Comparison Total Tox *AXIS Forensic Toxicology MCCO 5 2 OSP 14 Notes: OSP Crime Lab-No cost to county, but limited to MVC Fatals In 2016 AIT Labs became AXIS Forensic Toxicology

12 AUTOPSY AND TOXICOLOGY YEARLY COMPARISON YEAR #CONTRACT #ORC MEDICAL TOX ONLY Contract= autopsies on cases we have jurisdiction and request. ORC= autopsies our county is responsible for on individuals that die in neighboring counties but the incident occurred in Ross County Medical= autopsies that were done at Adena per our request Tox only= cases that toxicology was done but no autopsy

13 STAFF John A. Gabis, M.D. John Ziskowski, M.D. Amy Luckeydoo, M.D. Coroner Deputy Coroner Deputy Coroner Mike Ratliff, D-ABMDI Mark Gray Dave Russell Chief Investigator Investigator Investigator Scotty LaGard Linda Goebel Bryon D. Cox II Investigator Office Manager Investigator