About Our Office

Select one of the following options:

• Introduction
• What is a Coroner?
• Records Request
• Forensic Pathology
• Forensic Toxicology

Introduction

Franklin County, Ohio encompasses the largest city and the second largest metropolitan population in the state. A metro population of 1.4 million people will produce 9500 deaths a year. One third of these cases will be under suspicious or unusual circumstances, or without an attending physician, or within twenty four hours of admission to any health care facility. The Franklin County Coroner's Office orders about half of these "reportable" deaths be brought into the Coroner's Office for examination. About half of these reportable cases are autopsied.

The major causes of deaths are divided into four categories:

• natural (those due to processes of age and disease)
• accidental (unintentional) deaths
• homicides
• suicides
• undetermined

What is a Coroner?

In Ohio, the Coroner is an elected public official (term of 4 years) in each county (88), who must be licensed to practice medicine (M.D. or D.O.) in the state of Ohio. A Coroner is responsible for investigating sudden, suspicious, violent or unusual deaths and for providing accurate, legally defensible determinations of the causes of these deaths. The information provided by the Coroner plays a critical role in the judicial system and may influence decisions made by public safety and health agencies.

Request a Coroner / Autopsy Report

In Compliance with Ohio Revised Code 313.10 The coroner's report is available to anyone upon receipt of a written request. Please state the full name of the deceased along with the date of death in your request. Electronically request records by completing and submitting our electronic form.

Request a Coroner / Autopsy Report

For mailing, address all requests to:

Franklin County Coroner's Office
520 King Avenue
Columbus, OH 43201

Forensic Pathology

Forensic Pathology is the study of how injury and/or disease affect a person at the point of death with a view to explaining any findings to the judge or jury in a court of law.

In the Franklin County Coroner's Office there are three board certified Forensic Pathologists who, as Deputy Coroners, examine bodies externally and determine whether an autopsy is indicated. If necessary, a Forensic Pathologist does the autopsy to determine the cause of death. If the manner of death is ruled a homicide the Forensic Pathologist may be asked to testify at the Grand Jury or in the Court of Common Pleas. Regardless of the manner of death, the forensic pathologist may be required to give expert testimony in civil trials and proceedings as to the specific cause of death. For example, wrongful death, auto accident and work-related accidents. We cooperate with all investigating agencies.

Autopsies on victims of homicide stabbings and gun shots can help to collect evidence that may help to convict the guilty party or it may help to exonerate the innocent one. The autopsy may prevent the defense from claiming that the decedent was already dead when the defendant shot or stabbed him.

An autopsy consists of the gross external and internal examination of a body and of microscopic examinations of tissues for evidence of disease and trace physical evidence. Additional studies such as special stains or microscopic tissue sections, bacterial and viral cultures, rape examinations and analyses for inborn errors of metabolism are utilized as needed.

Investigations of deaths in childhood can help to confirm the suspicion of abuse or allay any suspicions of abuse in cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Not all autopsies reveal the cause of death even after the toxicological, microscopic, and police investigations are considered. These tend to be frustrating cases, and they are more likely to occur when decomposition removes "vital" clues to the cause of death. Some causes of abnormal heart beat do not leave anatomical clues and may be difficult or impossible to document after death.

Forensic Toxicology

Forensic Toxicology is a hybrid discipline employing elements of analytical chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology and finally law.

In all cases, regardless of circumstances a "chemical autopsy" is performed by the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory on blood and urine, if available. Urine analysis gives us indication of what drugs HAD BEEN ingested, but blood analysis will give us a clear picture of what effect any drug or chemical had upon a person's health or behavior up to and at the time of death.

Vitreous humor is the crystal clear fluid inside the eyeball. The eye has limited access to the blood supply, but drugs do equilibrate with this eye fluid. In deceased bodies this fluid is obtained by needle and syringe in some cases. This can be done without disfiguring the body by replacing the extracted fluid. A laboratory analysis of this fluid will give an adequate profile of a person's blood plasma drug level about one to two hours before death.

If an autopsy is performed we have access to specimens of liver, brain and kidney. Liver is the site of most first-pass metabolism of drugs and other toxins. If a person dies acutely from an oral drug overdose, the liver will be congested with the parent drug and variable amounts of metabolites. As the final filter for most of the liver's metabolic products the kidney is also a good resource for detecting water-soluble drugs and other poisons. Because of its unique chemistry and physiology the brain is the tissue of choice for very fat-soluble drugs.

For specific drugs spleen, lung, adipose and bone may be helpful. Also helpful to some extent are other fluids like bile, spinal fluid and subdural clots. In the case of suspected heavy metal poisoning specimens of hair and nails are in order since they grow slowly and incorporate metal ions into their structure.

About a quarter of all our cases contain ethanol. The next most commonly encountered toxic agent is carbon monoxide, usually in conjunction with a house fire. Eleven percent of our lethal drug cases involve illicit drugs. Eighty-five percent of our drug cases involve the use, misuse, or abuse of prescription drugs.

By examining the blood for the presence of a drug and its primary metabolites we can often establish the RECENCY OF USE for a given drug. That is we can tell if a dose was taken acutely, (all at once, with probable suicidal intent) or chronically, (that is, built up over an extended period of time). Furthermore, tissue analysis will give a clearer picture of the distribution of the drug in the body.

Industrial accidents and poisonings with agricultural agents and industrial solvents constitute about four percent of our cases. Half of all victims of industrial accidents have marijuana metabolites in their systems at death. One third of all drivers in fatal vehicular accidents also have marijuana metabolites. Less than four percent of the general patient population has THC (the active ingredient in marijuana).