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I do go to a fair number of meetings attended by other coroner’s and the occasional representative of the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office (for a while it was Dr Denton). Lately they have been in “exotic places” like Springfield, Bloomington and Glen Ellyn. Chatting most often centers on work and it is not unusual to discuss and share about issues etc, but I digress a bit.
After discussions with folks from Cook County, we (that executive “we” again) have decided to change things a bit in the way we handle certain cases in the office. It is not a huge change, but change is the one constant. Historically (as long as anyone can remember), autopsies have been done infrequently in drug overdose deaths by the Lake County Coroner’s Office. The feeling was that having toxic levels of drugs, whether licit or illicit, in an individual “gives you” the cause of death. We will be doing autopsies now on most, if not all, drug related deaths. Information based on real experience, primarily from Cook County, informed us that possible prosecutions for dug-induced homicide proceed more smoothly with an autopsy done, despite the fact that the autopsy rarely gives any truly pertinent information as to the cause of death.
It may seem unusual that this was not encouraged through any communication from the Lake County State’s Attorney Office, but this is a newer “field” of possible prosecution and likely everyone is still “feeling their way”.
In all fairness the question was raised by a local police department and our research/information seeking in response to that brought the answers/opinions from the Cook County ME Office.
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5 comments:
...I've seen an interesting program on Discovery Health Channel..its called "Skeleton Stories" about how clues and causes of death are figured out by looking at bones...maybe you know it all , maybe not, but the show is interesting (as is Dr. G-medical examiner) thought you might like to check it out if you have cable....Great column by the way.
Were most, if not all drug overdose deaths not autopsied in the past? Under past administrations? I remember hearing somewhere, maybe around politic time that by having you as a Doctor, it would help diminish the amount of "unnecessary" autopsies done, hence saving the tax payer dollar. I've seen your show on the cable network, it seems that there is a lot of expense tied in your laboratory. What will become of that?
The thing to remember with this group of autopsies is that they are not medically indicated, but are done because of changes in the law (“new” drug-induced homicide statute) and enforcement of that statute. Reading the paper demonstrates how that enforcement is growing across the state, not just here in Lake County.
With regard to our new toxicology equipment and improved capabilities, our results have been and will continue to be instrumental in a number of cases for our use and use by law enforcement agencies. The faster turn around time of results is often crucial to the case development and resolution. I should also mention that those improvements did not come with extra budgetary expense
Hello- Have you been involved in ALL OF THE FENTANYL DEATH RESEARCH IN COOK COUNTY? I READ AN ARTICLE IN "dETAILS" ABOUT HOW LETHAL IT IS IF IT IS SHOT UP LIKE HEROINE. iNSTANTANEOUS DEATH.
See Heroin or is it?
While the cases seen here in Lake County have been fewer in number than in Cook County, we have had our share and continue to see them.
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