(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -The Spokane County Medical Examiner's 2017 annual report is now complete and has been released.
The info in the report was compiled from deaths that were reported to the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office in 2017. Last year's report was delayed for several months because of the backlog in the Washington State Toxicology laboratory. A total of 432 autopsies were completed in Spokane County last year.
Some key numbers from the report for Spokane County include:
- Deaths: 4,884 in Spokane County, 4,337 reported to examiner's office
- Deaths investigated by the MEO: 695
- Accidental Drug Overdoses: 75 in 2017, a decrease of 40 from 115 in 2016
- Most Common opiods listed as causing or contributing to accidental overdose were
Oxycodone (7 deaths)
Hydrocodone (6 deaths)
Morphine (7 deaths)
Methadone (8 deaths)
Benzodiazepines (10 deaths) *though benzodiazepines are not opioids they are included with theopioids as national data which indicates that benzodiazepines are often used in combination with opioids in prescription medication deaths.
- Drugs causing or contributing to death
Methamphetamine (46)
Heroin (16)
Cocaine (8)
- Homicides: 26 in 2017, an increase of 1 over 2016
- Vehicular deaths: 58 in 2017, an increase of 17 over 2016
- Suicidal deaths: 122 in 2017, an increase of 31 over 2016
- Accidental deaths from falls: 192, an increase of 11 from 2016
The full 2017 annual report is available here