Accidental drug overdoses accounted for 23 deaths in Hamilton County last year, according to Hamilton County Coroner John Chalfin’s annual report. These deaths were second only to suicides during
Coroner John Chalfin
2016. The types of drugs involved included heroin which was at least partially involved in 10 of the cases.
The coroner was called to the scene of 217 deaths during the year, and made reports on another 158 at local hospitals. Of the 375 total, 293 were ruled to be due to natural causes.
There was only one homicide investigated by Chalfin last year. There were 10 traffic fatalities including one pedestrian and one bicycle accident. There were 13 attributed to other types of accidents, mostly falls and drownings.
But, the most common non-natural death involved suicide. Of the 31 cases, 18 were caused by gunshots, and 11 by hanging.
Autopsies were conducted in 104 of the overall cases, and toxicology screens were taken in another 127.
There was not any one time of the year that stands out in the report as particularly deadly. Of the deaths investigated, 209 were males and 166 were females. The average age of the deceased was just short of 64, far under of the average lifespan of the overall population