Greene County experiences surge in drug overdose deaths in 2016
WAYNESBURG – The Observer-Reporter has filed a lawsuit against Greene County Coroner Gregory Rohanna seeking access to his office’s complete 2016 annual report after statistics showed an uptick in the number of overdose deaths in the county last year.
The newspaper filed the lawsuit Monday claiming the coroner’s office has declined repeated requests to provide its complete annual report, which every coroner across the state is required to file with its county’s prothonotary and grant access to anyone who inquires to review it.
A partial report provided to the newspaper March 31 shows that 19 people died in Greene County from acute combined drug toxicity overdoses in 2016, a 36 percent increase over the previous year when there were 14 overdose deaths. All but one of those deaths were listed as accidental, with the other manner of death ruled natural.
The spreadsheet report provided by the coroner’s office includes names and causes and manners of death, but no information about the drugs involved, genders and ages of the deceased or when and where the deaths occurred.
The newspaper’s lawsuit states that the annual report should be released under section 1251 of Pennsylvania’s Coroner’s Act, which states all annual “records and reports” must be filed by the coroner at the prothonotary’s office within 30 days of the new year and be available “for the inspection of all persons interested therein.”
The newspaper, which made multiple attempts to obtain the report from the coroner and prothonotary’s office, contends all information within the annual report is vital to show the full scope of the opioid epidemic in the county.
The information that was released shows Greene County now is on par with Washington County for the average number of overdose deaths per 100,000 residents. Washington County had 109 overdose deaths last year, up from 73 the year before. In proportion, that means there were 52.6 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in Washington County, compared to 51.2 overdose deaths in Greene County per that population figure.
There were just 10 overdose deaths in Greene County in 2014, according to federal Drug Enforcement Agency statistics, meaning the number of deaths due to drugs nearly doubled over the past two years.