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More people died from drug overdoses and homicides in Luzerne County last year, but there were fewer deaths due to suicides and accidents, such as falls and fires, new statistics show.
Now that all outstanding toxicology tests are in, the coroner’s office concluded there were 169 overdose deaths in 2018, compared to 155 the previous year, according to the office’s annual report released Tuesday.
It’s the fourth consecutive year for a new record high, with 140 fatal overdoses in 2016 and 95 in 2015, past reports show.
Seventeen deaths were ruled homicides last year — 11 men and six women. The county had 15 homicides in 2017.
Continuing a trend, the number of cremations in the county rose to a new high of 2,186 as that option becomes more popular.
The practice has more than doubled since 2002, when there were 814 cremations in the county. The law requires the coroner’s office to review death certificates before a cremation is authorized in case something suspicious or questionable must be examined.
Not including cremations, the coroner’s office processed 1,274 death cases last year, which is around the same as the previous year. Of these, 967 died of natural causes, the office determined.
The coroner’s office must investigate deaths that occur outside medical facilities or when the deceased have been in a hospital setting for less than 24 hours.
Declines
The new report shows there were 56 suicide deaths in the county last year — 45 men and 11 women.
County human service agencies have stepped up suicide prevention efforts in recent years, including the distribution of gun locks and increased messages encouraging those who are struggling to seek help.
Suicides in the county ranged from 50 to 67 annually from 2010 through 2015. Officials had been cautiously optimistic when the number of suicides dipped below 50 in 2016, which had not occurred since 2009. However, the number of suicides rose again to 64 in 2017.
Some other causes of death last year that reflected a decrease, the statistics show:
• Motor vehicle accidents, 23 (28 in 2017)
• Falls, 21 (28 in 2017)
• Fires, 3 (5 in 2017)
• Drownings, 3 (4 in 2017)
The office performed 57 autopsies last year, a decrease of 14 from the prior year.
The county also set a record for unclaimed bodies that must be buried at the county’s expense in 2018. There were 31 cases last year, compared to 11 in 2017.
County Coroner William Lisman has said the office was unable to track down family members or identified family members who refused to accept responsibility, including a father who picked up the belongings of the deceased at the hospital but later did not respond to coroner’s office communications.