Of the death’s investigated by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office in 2016, drug overdoses accounted for more than twice as many casualties as car accidents.
The latest indication of a still-increasing opiate crisis was one of the statistics in the coroner’s annual report covering 2016.
Drug overdoses killed 353 people in Franklin County last year. That makes overdoses the most common cause of death in fatalities investigated by the coroner.
Of the 2016 deaths investigated by the coroner’s office, half were accidental, a quarter were from natural causes, and the remainder were due to suicide, homicide, and unknown causes.
Firearms were used in 100 homicides and 77 suicides. Of those who died from natural causes, cardiovascular disease claimed 323 lives.
The coroner’s office says the death rate in Franklin County is skewed upward because of the large number of out-of-county people staying in Franklin County hospitals.
