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                            Events
 Opioids and Death Investigation:  A "Perfect Storm" Event Dates
              October 3, 2017, 1:00 pm
 – 2:00 pm
Event Duration
              1 hour
Location
              Online

Register

The scope of the opioid epidemic presents unprecedented challenges to the medical examiner and coroner community. This webinar will explore the intersection of the opioid epidemic with the work of America’s medical examiners and coroners.

The opioid epidemic in the US has resulted in historic numbers of drug-related fatalities. The Centers for Disease Control notes that more than six out of ten drug-related fatalities involve an opioid. Since 1999, the number of deaths involving opioids—including prescription opioids and heroin—quadrupled. Some 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. Drug-related fatalities now exceed the peak numbers of other public health scourges such as HIV (1995), motor vehicle accidents (1972), and gun violence (1993).

Medical examiners and coroners (ME/C) are responsible for investigation and certification of all unnatural deaths in their jurisdictions, in accordance with state statute. Such unnatural deaths include apparent drug intoxications. Components of ME/C death investigations include assessment of the scene of death, review of medical records, coordination with law enforcement and first responders, performance of an autopsy, collection of appropriate specimens for toxicological analysis, interpretation of laboratory results, and death certification. This labor-intensive process requires both medicolegal death investigators and forensic pathologists (FPs).
View Course Page
  
  
          Details
Series
                  Opioid Crisis: A Public Health Webinar Series

  Event Type
              Webinar
    Event Option(s)
          Online,
                        On demand

Sponsor(s) / Host(s)

National Institute of Justice (NIJ), U.S. Department of Justice;Forensic Technology Center of Excellence
    Contact
          NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence

  Link
              If you have questions about this course, contact the FTCoE.

  Registration Status
              Open

  Eligibility
              Free and open to all. ​
    
  
Read more about
    
            Forensic sciences
        Forensic pathology
        Law enforcement
        Death investigations
        First responders
        Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
        Gun violence
        Drug related fatalities
        Opioids
        Opioid epidemic
        Medical examiners
        Autopsies
        Coroners
        Toxicology
        Evidence analysis and processing
        Forensic Technology Center of Excellence
        Medicolegal death investigations
        Drugs
  
Date Created: September 14, 2017
    
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