Title
2021 Annual Coroner's Report
Presenter:
Dr. Leon Kelly, El Paso County Coroner
Body
Summary:
Dr. Leon Kelly will provide an overview of his 2021 annual report to City Councilmembers.
Background:
El Paso County Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly has released the office's 2021 annual report, which is marked by a record-setting number of death investigations and autopsies.
The El Paso County Coroner's Office is responsible for investigating all sudden, unexplained, or traumatic deaths, or deaths that occur in the custody of law enforcement, in the workplace, or that constitute a public health threat.
"This annual report provides the foundational data, concerning our county's worst tragedies, necessary to begin the collaborative work of building a safer and healthier community. The more we know about what went wrong in these cases, the better equipped we are to prevent these same tragedies in the future," said Dr. Kelly.
The report shows that the El Paso County Coroners Office performed more death investigations and autopsies than it has ever seen before. In 2021, the Office performed 7,000 death investigations; a 16% increase over 2020, and 1,444 autopsies; an 11% increase over 2020.
The increase in autopsies were driven by 227 drug-related deaths; a 22% increase from 2020.
Drug-related fatalities included more than double the amount of accidental fentanyl deaths, from 47 in 2020 to 99 in 2021, continuing a doubling trend that started in 2017. The average age for fentanyl deaths was 35, 12 years younger than all other drug-related deaths and included five deaths among youth. More than half of fentanyl deaths (55%) had other drugs of abuse in the blood at the time of death, suggesting multi-drug use or clandestine presence of fentanyl in another drug. More than one-third (38%) of all drug deaths had marijuana or metabolites in the body compared to 23% of all deaths investigated.
61 of the autopsies performed were homicides, an 11% increase from 2020.
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