Trumbull overdose deaths, costs still on rise

WARREN

The toll for overdose deaths keeps rising in Trumbull County, reaching close to 100 in 2016 with some cases still not finalized.

The tentative number of 96 is another increase over the 87 deaths in 2015, which was a sizable jump over 2014, when there were 54.

The other highest year was 2007, when there were 64, fueled by the OxyContin problem, according to statistics from the Trumbull County Coroner’s Office.

The coroner, Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, cited the “heroin crisis that is raging” and the resulting high number of autopsies he carried out in 2016 – 328 – as among the reasons he’s been searching for 13 months for a second medical examiner to help perform autopsies.

The other reason is his retirement in four years and his age, 63, he said.

There’s a financial cost to the county for his office’s having to run lab tests and investigate drug deaths, but nearly 100 deaths are a significant number in other ways.

Read more about the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.