annual report 2013 - erie county · 25 30 35 45 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sept oct nov dec...

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ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL

EXAMINER’S OFFICE

ANNUAL REPORT

2013

501 Kensington Avenue

Buffalo, NY 14214

Telephone: 716.961.7591

Fax: 716.961.7581

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INTRODUCTION

In 2013, 2230 cases were reported to the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office, excluding out of

county cases. Data were compiled by manner of death, biological sex, age, race, and month of the

year for deaths in Erie County, New York falling under the jurisdiction of the Erie County Medical

Examiner’s Office (later referred to as ECMEO) in 2013. The manner of each death is classified as

one of the following: Natural, Accident, Homicide, Suicide or Undetermined. Refer to Table 1 below

for mode/cause classifications for each manner of death. Manner of death classification follows “A

Guide for Manner of Death Classification” issued by the National Association of Medical Examiners

(NAME) in 2002.1 The following definitions are verbatim from that document:

Natural deaths are due solely to disease and/or the aging process.

Accident applies when an injury or poisoning causes death and there is little or no evidence that injury or

poisoning occurred with intent to harm or cause death. In essence, the fatal outcome was unintentional.

Suicide results from an injury or poisoning as a result of an intentional, self-inflicted act, committed to do self-

harm or cause the death of one’s self.

Homicide occurs when death results from a volitional act committed by another person, usually to cause fear,

harm, or death.

Undetermined or “could not be determined” is a classification used when the information pointing to one manner

of death is no more compelling than one or more other competing manners of death in thorough consideration of

all available information.

GSW = firearm

*GSW = firearm

**CO = carbon monoxide

1 Hanzlick, Randy, MD, Hunsaker III, John C., MD, JD, Davis, Gregory J., MD, “A Guide For Manner of Death Classification,” First

Edition, National Association of Medical Examiners ®

NATURAL ACCIDENT SUICIDE HOMICIDE UNDETERMINED

Cardiovascular

Transportation

Hanging

GSW*

Advanced Decomposition

Pulmonary

Falls

Drugs

Blunt Force Injury

Blunt Force Injury

Liver

GSW*

GSW*

Sharp Force Injury

Drugs

Neurological

Asphyxia

Blunt Force Injury

Strangulation/ Suffocation

Fetal Demise, SIDS, SUID

Gastrointestinal

Drugs

Sharp Force Injury

Multiple (combination)

GSW*

Infectious

Drowning

Fire/ CO**

Other

Drowning

Cancer/ Neoplastic

Fire/ CO**

Inhalation of Gases

CO**

Metabolic

Environmental

Other

Undetermined

Autoimmune

Therapeutic Complication


Genetic

Other

Other

Death in Infant/ Fetus

Other

Table 1. Classification, category or general cause of death for each manner of death.

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37.8%

41.7%

10.4%

6.6%

2.4% 1.0%

2013 ECMEO Cases:

Manner of Death

Natural

Accident

Suicide

Homicide

Undetermined

N/A

65.46%

34.54%

2013 ECMEO Cases: Biological Sex

Male Female

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Figure 1. 854 cases investigated by the ECMEO in 2013, classified according to the

manner of death. “N/A” cases are those which a manner of death determination is not

needed or applicable (non-human remains and fetuses).

Figure 2. Biological sex breakdown for all Erie County ECMEO cases.

4

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100

20

35

99 89

132

180

104

76

90

29

2013 ECMEO Cases:

Total for Age Groups

4 6 12 24 45 97 64 38 25 11

11 17

48

41

59 54

24

32

59

15

0 3

15 14 18 18

13

4 4 1 2

9

22

9 6 4 2 1 1 1 3

0 2 1 4

7 1 1 1 1

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100

2013 ECMEO Cases: Age Groups

Natural

Accident

Suicide

Homicide

Undetermined

Figure 3. Manner of death classified by ten year age groups for all Erie County cases investigated by the ECMEO.

Figure 4. 854cases investigated by age group.

5

0.70%

19.56%

3.98%

0.82%

1.05% 73.89%

2013 ECMEO Cases: Race

Asian

Black

Hispanic

Native American

Other

White

80

59

67

56

69

74

60

75

80

66

82

86

50

60

70

80

90

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

2013 ECMEO Cases: Number per Month

Figure 5. 854 cases investigated according to percent of total case load for each race group.

Figure 6. Total number of Erie County cases investigated at the ECMEO for each month of 2013.

6

0.61%

0.92% 0.92%

1.23%

2.15% 2.76%

3.37% 3.99%

5.83%

6.75%

71.47%

2013 ECMEO Natural Deaths

Death in Infant/ Fetus

Genetic

Other

Gastrointestinal

Infectious

Metabolic

Neurological

Pulmonary

Cancer/ Neoplastic

Liver

Cardiovascular

65.34%

34.66%

2013 ECMEO Natural Deaths: Biological Sex

Male

Female

NATURAL DEATH OVERVIEW

Figure 7. Natural deaths categorized by cause (disease type/organ system). Note that over 70% of all Natural deaths

investigated were related to the cardiovascular system.

Figure 4.

Table 8.

Figure 8. Natural deaths grouped by biological sex for all Erie County

cases in 2013.

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1.23%

1.84% 3.68%

7.36%

13.80%

29.75%

19.63%

11.66%

7.67%

3.37%

2013 ECMEO Natural Deaths: Age Groups

0-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

61-70

71-80

81-90

91-100

0.31%

0.61% 0.92%

3.99%

25.77%

68.40%

2013 ECMEO Natural Deaths: Race

Asian

Other

Native American

Hispanic

Black

White

Figure 9. Natural deaths classified by age group.

Figure 10. Natural deaths classified according to race.

8

40

24

34

25

21

26

22 24

20

24

29

37

15

20

25

30

35

40

45


2013 ECMEO Natural Deaths: Number per Month

Figure 11. Total number of Natural deaths for each month in 2013.

9

1.67% 1.94%

1.94% 2.22% 3.06%

3.33%

19.72%

30.00%

36.11%

2013 ECMEO Accident Deaths

Other

Environmental


Drowning

Fire/ CO

Asphyxia

Transportation

Falls

Drugs

61.39%

38.61%

2013 ECMEO Accident Deaths: Biological Sex

Male

Female

ACCIDENT DEATH OVERVIEW

Figure 12. Accidental deaths classified by cause of death.

Figure 13. Percent of accidental deaths for males and females in 2013.

10

5 4 4 6 7 7

46

63

79

1 3 3 2 4 5

25

45 51

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2013 ECMEO Accident Deaths: Cause and Biological Sex

Male

Female

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100

11

17

48

41

59

54

24

32

59

15

2013 ECMEO Accident Deaths: Age Groups

Figure 14. Accidental deaths grouped according to cause of death and biological sex.

Figure 15. Number of Accidental deaths according to age groups.

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0.56% 0.56% 0.83%

5.00%

10.28%

82.78%

2013 ECMEO Accident Deaths: Race

Other

Native American

Asian

Hispanic

Black

White

31

26

21

17

29

40

23

38

41

26

39

29

15

20

25

30

35

40

45


2013 ECMEO Accident Deaths:

Number per Month

Figure 16. Accidental deaths in Erie County classified according to race in 2013.

Figure 18. Total number of Erie County aaccidental deaths investigated for each month in 2013.

Figure 17. Accidental deaths in Erie County per month.

12

2.22%

2.22% 2.22%

4.44%

5.56%

13.33%

30.00%

40.00%

2013 ECMEO Suicide Deaths

Sharp Force Injury

Inhalation of Gases

Other

Fire/ CO

Blunt Force Injury

Drugs

GSW

Hanging

75.56%

24.44%

2013 ECMEO Suicide Deaths: Biological Sex

Male

Female

Figure 18. Suicide deaths in Erie County grouped according to cause of death.

Figure 19. Percent of suicidal deaths grouped according to biological sex.

SUICIDE DEATH OVERVIEW

13

0

5

10

15

20

0

3

15 14

18 18

13

4 4

1

2013 ECMEO Suicide Deaths:

Age Groups

2 2 2 4 5 4

23 26

0 0 0 0 0

8 4

10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2013 ECMEO Suicide Deaths: Cause and Biological Sex

Male

Female

Figure 20. Cause of death in cases of Suicide grouped according to biological sex.

Figure 21. Number of suicide deaths for each age group.

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1.11% 2.22%

2.22% 4.44%

90.00%

2013 ECMEO Suicide Deaths: Race

Hispanic

Asian

Black

Other

White

7

5 5

8

10

3

10

5

10

8 8

11

0

2

4

6

8

10

12


2013 ECMEO Suicide Deaths: Number per Month

Figure 22. Suicides grouped according to race for 2013.

Figure 34.

Figure 23. Total number of Suicides for each month of 2013.

15

70.18%

14.04%

10.53%

3.51% 1.75%

2013 ECMEO Homicide Deaths

GSW

Sharp Force Injury

Blunt Force Injury

Mulitple

Other

84.21%

15.79%

2013 ECMEO Homicide Deaths:

Biological Sex

Male

Female

HOMICIDE DEATH OVERVIEW

Figure 24. Cause of death for 2013 Erie County Homicides in 2013. Note that GSW account for the

majority of cases.

Figure 25. Percent of Homicide deaths for males and females.

16

36

5 5

1 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

GSW Sharp ForceInjury

Blunt ForceInjury

Multiplemodes

Other

2013 ECMEO Homicide Deaths: Cause and

Biological Sex

Male

Female

0

5

10

15

20

25

2

9

22

9

6 4

2 1 1 1


Age Groups

Figure 26. Cause of death in cases of Homicide for males and females for Erie County cases in 2013.

Figure 27. Total number of Homicides for each age group in 2013.

17

1.75% 3.51%

21.05%

73.68%

2013 ECMEO Homicide Deaths: Race

Other

Hispanic

White

Black

1 1

6

4

7

4

5

6 6

5

4

8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9



Number per Month

Figure 28. Percentage of Homicide cases according to race.

Figure 29. Total number of Erie County Homicides per month in 2013.

18

14.29%

0.00%

9.52%

4.76%

19.05% 33.33%

4.76%

4.76% 4.76% 4.76%

2013 ECMEO Undetermined Deaths:

Age Groups

0-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

61-70

71-80

81-90

91-100

9.52%

14.29%

19.05%

28.57%

28.57%

2013 ECMEO Undetermined Deaths

Fetal Demise, SIDS, SUID

Other

Blunt Force Injury

Drugs

Undetermined

UNDETERMINED MANNER OF DEATH OVERVIEW

Figure 30. Cause of death for Undetermined deaths in Erie County in 2013. 57% of undetermined deaths were

females and 43% were males.

Figure 31. Undetermined deaths by age groups for Erie County cases in 2013.

19

9.52% 9.52%

80.95%

2013 ECMEO Undetermined Deaths: Race

Native American

Black

White

1

3

1

2 2

1

0

2

3 3

2

1

0

1

2

3

4


2013 ECMEO Undetermined Deaths: Number per Month

Figure 32. Undetermined deaths grouped according to race.

Figure 33. Number of Undetermined deaths by month for 2013.

20

20%

4%

37%

17%

22%

2013 ECMEO Chemical Intoxication Deaths:

Group of Drugs

Heroin

Heroin/Fentanyl

Opiate

Other

Polysubstance

42%

58%


Biological Sex

Female

Male

2013 CHEMICAL INTOXICATION DEATHS OVERVIEW

Chemical intoxication deaths were classified into five (5) different groups for 2013 deaths:

Polysubstance: three (3) or more substances

Opiate: one (1) or two (2) substances; one of which was an opiate

Heroin: one (1) or two (2) substances; one of which was heroin

Heroin/Fentanyl: combination of heroin and fentanyl (opiate)

Other: any other substances not falling into the above groups

Figure 34. Overall number of chemical intoxication deaths categorized according to

group of drug.

Figure 35. Chemical intoxication deaths by biological sex.

21

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80

2

33

29

37

33

4

1

2013 ECMEO Chemical Intoxication Deaths: Age Groups

10% 6%

1%

83%


Race

Black

Hispanic

Other

White

Figure 36. Chemical intoxication deaths according to 10 year age groups. Note that age

groups “0-10”, “81-90” and “91-100” were removed because no case fit into these three

groups.

Figure 37. Chemical intoxication deaths according to race.

22

12

8

11

5

17

12

6

15

18

7

23

5

0

5

10

15

20

25


2013 ECMEO Chemical Intoxication Deaths: Number per Month

2% 3% 3% 5%

5%

6%

10%

12% 54%


Number per City or Town

Kenmore

Lackawanna

West Seneca

Amherst

Hamburg

Town of Tonawanda

Cheektowaga

Other

Buffalo

Figure 38. Number of chemical intoxication deaths for 2013 for each month.

Figure 39. Total number of chemical intoxication deaths according to city/town. Note that nearly 54%

of all chemical intoxication deaths occurred in the city of Buffalo. “Other” category includes

cities/towns that had two (2) or less chemical intoxication deaths in 2013.

annual report 2013 - erie county · 25 30 35 45 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sept oct nov dec...

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