COLUMBUS, Ind. — Last year was a busy one for the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office.
The number of fatal drug overdoses, homicides and deaths from accidents and natural causes that the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office investigated last year reached levels not seen since at least 2018 even though none of those deaths were directly caused by COVID-19, according to the coroner’s office annual report.
Overall, the coroner’s office investigated 182 deaths in 2020 — or about one case, on average, every other day.
By comparison, the number of deaths investigated by the coroner’s office hovered around 140 during each of the previous three years.
The coroner’s office also ordered 43 autopsies last year, up from 34 the previous year.
Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said while it was difficult to attribute the increase in numbers to the pandemic, one thing was clear — “it was a rough year for everybody.”
“I don’t want to say (it was) an odd year, but I don’t know how else to put it,” he said. “Because, obviously, you can see we were absolutely swamped at the coroner’s office just by the sheer volume of numbers and reports.”
The Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office does not investigate every death in the county, Nolting explained. Coroners have jurisdiction over all homicides, suicides and accidents and investigate natural deaths that are sudden, unexpected, unwitnessed or suspicious, or if the person who died didn’t have a physician.
Most deaths in Bartholomew County are certified by an attending physician, Nolting said.
The coroner’s office generally does not investigate COVID-19 deaths because people who die from the coronavirus are typically under the care of a doctor.
For the complete story, see Saturday’s Republic.
