Dougherty coroner releases 2017 annual report

ALBANY — An annual report recently released by the office of Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler gives an overview of his office’s activities in 2017.

The office includes Fowler, two deputy coroners, a full-time administrative assistant and a part-time administrative assistant. The office is responsible for the examination of the deceased — through collected evidence — to determine cause, method and manner of death in cases of homicide, suicide, accident, suspicious or unusual circumstances, and when the deceased is unattended by a physician.

“Also, the Coroner is responsible for communicating with various agencies, including police, medical examiner, state crime laboratory, in collection of evidence and transmittal of deceased persons to places for proper post mortem examination,” the report’s introduction said. “This office is also responsible for keeping proper records, through research and/or scene investigations, filing such records, future court testimony, completing certain documents, and coordinating and holding inquests when necessary.”

Fowler’s duties involve autopsies and inspecting the body of a deceased person to identify marks or other empirical evidence. The deputy coroners determine the manner and cause of death, whether natural or violent, as well as identify the remains in the absence of the coroner.

Funding for the coroner’s office comes from the county’s general fund. In 2017, the county administrator and the Dougherty County Commission approved an adopted budget of $157,464, representing an increase from $157,126 over 2016.

The 2017 funding included $100,032 in personnel services, the report said.

The types of deaths reported to the coroner include:

— No physician in attendance;

— Attending physician is unable or willing to certify the cause of death, and/or the attending physician has not been in attendance within the past 30 days prior to death;

— All cases associated with trauma or poisoning;

— All industrial accidents;

— Known or suspected suicides;

— Deaths due to self-induced or unexplained abortion;

— Operating room deaths, and deaths during a medical procedure;

— All unexplained deaths;

— Deaths occurring within 24 hours of admission to a hospital or nursing home facility;

— Deaths in the custody of law enforcement;

— Deaths of people in the care of a public institution;

— Deaths occurring under suspicious circumstances;

— Deaths believed to present a public health hazard;

— Deaths involving unidentifiable bodies.

Last year, 395 deaths were reported to the Dougherty coroner’s office. In 2016, the number was 394 deaths after 370 deaths in 2015 and 377 deaths in 2014.

Associated responsibilities of the coroner’s office include legal pronouncement of death, legal identification of the deceased, taking custody of bodies and personal belongings, notification of next of kin, signing death certificates and helping families through the grieving process.

Manner of death is a statistical classification to group certain circumstances of death — and are identified as natural, suicide accident, homicide and undetermined. In 2017, the natural deaths responded to Fowler’s office accounted for 82 percent of all cases — and the leading causes in those cases were pulmonary arrest, congestive heart failure and cardiac arrest.

“There are multiple contributing factors that cause … natural death,” the report said. “The two main supporting causes here in Dougherty County are hypertension and diabetes.”

Pulmonary arrest accounted for 58 percent of the natural cause cases.

The report said Fowler’s office responded to 42 accidental deaths last year with the causes including accidental shooting, head injury, fire, blunt force trauma, drowning, choking and drug overdoses. Drugs was the top accidental cause at 17 deaths, while blunt force trauma was the No. 2 cause at 14 deaths.

Suicides accounted for 3 percent of deaths, with nine such deaths in Dougherty last year. At the same time, there were 23 homicides — which almost doubled the 14 from the previous year and closely approached the record number of 24 homicides set in 1988.

Fowler’s office is actively involved in the community. It has an internship program for high school and college students and issues public service announcements for texting and driving and suicide prevention.

The internship program usually involves students from Albany State University, the Dougherty County School System and Sherwood Christian Academy. They are given hands-on experience in the forensics field.

“Since taking office in 2013, Coroner Fowler has hosted more than 40 students through the internship program,” the annual report said. “Several of the students have gone on to secure careers with several law enforcement agencies throughout Georgia, with two obtaining notable positions with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Although many that enter this internship are sure of their calling into this field, others have learned that it’s nothing like what they see on television shows and have found this is not for them.

“This is in itself a benefit to the students as well. The internship program gives the students an up-close-and-personal view of this field, allowing a real life experience, which ultimately helps them to decide if this is indeed the right career path. The students learn the laws pertaining to investigating death, learn how to retrieve medical records, locate next of kin and they actually witness the stages of death. All of this ties in closely to the knowledge they have gained from the universities they attend.”

The program was opened to high school students last year. To date, four high school students have completed it, Fowler’s annual report said.

The report also made note of the community partnership to fight the opioid crisis that includes the coroner’s office, Dougherty County EMS, all county high schools, Morehouse School of Medicine, Albany area law enforcement agencies and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. There are also active campaigns against bullying, violence, safe swimming and suicide prevention.