Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Medical Examiner’s Office released its annual report on investigated deaths and death trends in 2005. Of the 1,945 deaths investigated by the Medical Examiner, there were 80 homicides, 226 fatal traffic crashes, 602 other kinds of fatal accidents (injuries), 233 suicides and 216 drug/poison deaths.
?The King County Medical Examiner?s Office provides a very important service that helps us better understand how deaths in our community happen. This allows us to plan efforts to prevent early deaths and improve the health of our community,? said King County Executive Ron Sims.
?The Medical Examiner investigates all sudden, unexpected, suspicious and violent deaths,? said Dorothy Teeter, Interim Director and Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. ?Knowing the circumstances and risk factors leading to early and unintentional death will help us put measures in place to prevent them.?
Of all King County deaths (12,937) in 2005, 8,527 or 66% were reported to the Medical Examiner. Based on review of the circumstances surrounding the death, the Medical Examiner investigated 1,945 of these reported deaths.