By Michael Kransz
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Nearly half a million more dollars and an extra death investigator are needed to keep up with the record number of opioid deaths in Kent County that shows no signs of slowing.
That’s according to a county official who oversees autopsies.
“Our staff is just worn to a nub,” said Stephen Cohle, the Kent County medical examiner. “It’s a direct effect of the opioid crisis. The sheer number of overdoses and the sheer number of cases stretches everything thin.”
Cohle’s office is responsible for investigating unexpected, accidental and violent deaths in the county. That includes performing autopsies, toxicology reports and scene investigations for overdose victims.
In 2016, Cohle’s office investigated 93 overdoses. In 2017, there were a record 156. Opioids accounted for nearly 70 percent of all 2017 overdose deaths, according to the year-end report.
Based on the number of investigations so far, Cohle estimated overdose deaths this year will top 2017 and that the trend will continue into 2019.
The opioid crisis has put the office’s stable year-to-year budget in flux, largely due to an increase in autopsies.
For the second year in a row, the office is requesting hundreds of thousands more dollars to cover the additional autopsies.
The average autopsy costs about $3,000, Cohle said. It accounts for roughly 70 percent of the office’s budget.
In 2017, the office budgeted $1.37 million and expected to perform 330 autopsies. They performed 409 and had an overrun cost of about $350,000.
The following year, they budgeted $1.66 million.
For 2019, the office is requesting $2.13 million, or $470,000 more, to cover the costs of additional autopsies.
The request anticipates 500 autopsies performed in 2019. It would be the most autopsies completed in a single year since at least 1990, according to office records.
The number of death investigations has “overwhelmed” the office’s staff of seven part-time investigators, Cohle said. In 2016, there were 1,155 investigations. In 2017, there were 1,810.
“It’s just been a huge extra workload,” he said.
The calls come in at all hours and the investigations can take weeks, Cohle said. Investigators, many of whom have other jobs, are tasked with information gathering and going to the scene.
Although it wasn’t added in their 2019 budget request, Cohle says he hopes county leaders will allow them to hire at least one more part-time investigator.
Investigators are paid an annual salary of $13,00 to $14,000, plus pay for each case worked, according to Cohle.
Copyright 2018 The Grand Rapids Press