Valuable comparisons and conclusions can be drawn from the types and circumstances of sudden unexpected deaths that occur in San Diego County, and in changes over time. Officials with the San Diego County Department of the Medical Examiner are releasing 22 years’ worth of data–from 1997 to the third quarter of 2018–in a free searchable online portal. The site makes over 59,000 records available.
If your exposure to forensic pathology is TV crime shows, you may think it’s purely a tool for solving criminal cases. But the science behind determining a cause of death has tremendous value at a personal level for those who have lost a family member and for society as a gauge of public health and safety.
During large disasters, medical examiners from across the country help the affected area with identifying those who died as quickly as possible so that families can get answers about their loved ones.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office is asking the public to help identify a young woman who was struck and killed by a vehicle Aug. 9 while trying to run across the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 just south of the San Clemente Border Patrol Station checkpoint.
Update: The woman has been identified and her family was notified. The Medical Examiner’s Office will release her name after her family has had time to notify other relatives.
Pedestrian fatalities reached their highest number in decades, while methamphetamine-related deaths and homicides also increased last year compared to recent years.
Prescription drug abuse has become an epidemic in San Diego. Statistics from the County Medical Examiner’s Office show a significant rise in fatal heroin and other opiate drug cases in recent years.
