Opioid Epidemic Straining Already-Taxed Medical Examiner Offices
Some offices are so stretched for space from the influx of deaths stemming from the crisis that they are having to consider renting refrigerated trucks to store bodies.
The Associated Press:
Overdose Deaths Overwhelm Medical Examiner, Coroner Offices
Soaring numbers of overdose deaths are adding to woes already plaguing medical examiner and coroner offices, resulting in a shortage of places to store bodies and long delays in autopsies and toxicology testing. The Connecticut medical examiner's office has considered renting a refrigerated truck to store extra bodies because its storage area has neared capacity at times. In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office sometimes has to put bodies on Army-style cots in its refrigerated storage area because it runs out of gurneys. The Hamilton County coroner's office in Cincinnati has a 100-day backlog of DNA testing for police drug investigations, largely because of increased overdose deaths. (Collins, 6/23)