This podcast episode is the second of the season focusing on community-based solutions for substance use challenges; it discusses how the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Overdose Surveillance Program approaches drug screening and rapid toxicology reports after a suspected overdose death.
In this Just Science podcast episode, the host, Dr. Lawrence Mullen, discusses the processing of postmortem toxicology reports with podcast guest, Bill Barbour, who is the fatal overdose surveillance program manager at King County Medical Examiner’s Office in Washington State. Barbour discusses his team’s methods for rapid toxicology results following a suspected overdose death; the goals of the Overdose Surveillance program; the challenges of implementing drug screening technologies; rapid death certification; and how the King County Offices use their findings to educate the community on emerging drug trends and prevention opportunities. Barbour begins by reviewing how he started as a forensic autopsy technician before switching to become a forensic death investigator, and then finally to the overdose surveillance program. He describes the creation of the King County surveillance program and its role in providing unique insights into the drugs responsible for fatal drug overdoses along with how those drugs are used and their usage trends over time. The program also provides data about demographics, gender, race, housing, veteran status, and how they are interacting with their overdose prevention and intervention systems in order to improve prevention resource availability to communities who are at risk for drug overdose.