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Bill Seeks Data on Drug Deaths: Legislation Would Require Annual Report

Posted on: Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:01 CST

By Owen Covington, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Feb. 13--Daviess County Coroner Bob Howe is occasionally approached by family members who had a relative die of a drug overdose who want the cause of death changed on the death certificate.

Drug abuse, and those who died from overdoses, can carry a social stigma that a family might not want attached to the death of their loved one.

"Sometimes people want that changed," Howe said. "But if that's what it is, that's how we report it."

A bill being considered in the House would require an annual report on drug-related deaths that could help the state and law enforcement keep more accurate track of the impact of drug abuse on Kentuckians.

Rep. C.B. Embry Jr., a Morgantown Republican and a co-sponsor of House Bill 67, said as many as three people die each day in the state from drug overdoses, but it is hard to obtain reliable statistics on those deaths.

Other states that now require this type of reporting on a statewide level have found that more people were dying from drug-related causes than initially believed, Embry said.

"We're trying to get the statistics accurate so we don't have to guess," Embry said. "It's mostly going unnoticed."

The legislation would require the state medical examiner's office to compile an annual report for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet that would include the number of drug-related deaths, where they occurred and what drugs were involved.

That information would help law enforcement and public health officials more accurately focus their efforts, said Rep. Brent Yonts, a Greenville Republican and the bill's primary sponsor.

"It'd be nice to know what's killing people," Yonts said.

The original version of the bill, which has been changed, would have required all county coroners to issue a monthly report on those types of deaths in their county to the state Office of Vital Statistics, something Howe said his office already does.

Typically, if a death is believed to be by unnatural causes, which would include a drug overdose, an autopsy is performed or blood tests are done to determine if there are drugs in the person's system, Howe said.

If drugs are believed to have contributed to the person's death, then that information in included on the death certificate, Howe said. That information is also forwarded by his office to the Office of Vital Statistics, Howe said.

Embry said some coroners might not report the presence of drugs in the body. For instance, the coroner might just list a heart attack as the cause of death, even though that heart attack might have been caused by drug use, Embry said.

That wouldn't be the case in the Daviess County coroner's office, Howe said, and shouldn't be the practice around the state.

"If a coroner does that, he's not doing his job," Howe said.

Teresa Barton, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, said the data from the report and other statistics her office receives from the state medical examiner in the interim will help identify trends and alert them to areas that might need more resources.

"Anything that we are able to analyze, that will allow us to react to by policy decisions," Barton said.

On a national level, the Drug Abuse Warning Network in the federal Department of Health and Human Services compiles information voluntarily submitted from states about drug-related deaths in cities and states.

Last year, six states became the first to submit information, and spokeswoman Leah Young said she hopes to eventually have all 50 states participate.

Young said she was not aware how many states keep track of drug-related deaths.

"It probably would be extremely helpful for states because it would tell them we have a real problem here or we're doing better there," Young said. "We feel we're encouraging people to find out what is going on and not put it under a blanket."

For Vote

House Bill 67 has been approved by the House Health and Welfare Committee and will likely be voted on by the entire House today.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

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Source: Messenger-Inquirer

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