Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office reported its highest number of cases yet in 2017. With a steady increase going into 2018, their office said they are extremely busy with cases and looking to expand their office.
“We’ve seen spikes in the pas,t and we noticed they’re like a one month or two month type trend and then things change,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sridhar Natarajan said. “What we noticed here is through October, November, December, January and February about a 40 percent increase that’s taken place.”
According to their records, Lubbock County recorded approximately 2,500 death cases in 2010. With trends record from 2010 to 2017, they projected more than 5,000 for this year.
“We actually think that this is real now and it’s not some sort of anomaly,” Natarajan said. “Just like with the rest of Lubbock, it’s growing.
We’re seeing a very rapid increase in not only investigations, but also in our autopsy cases.”
He also explained the growing local hospital facilities have also contributed to the number of cases.
“We need a lot of communication here because whatever we’re dealing with, it typically involves death,” Natarajan said. “It involves everything from being involved with a funeral, memorial services, as well as a number of things that are going to go in litigation.”
He told EverythingLubbock.com they have looked at hiring additional staff at the next budget meeting.