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Commissioners ask whether opioid settlement funds could cover autopsies for suspected overdoses
Summary
Board members raised whether opioid settlement dollars might be used to pay for autopsies in suspected overdose cases. County staff said settlement funds are primarily for treatment but will research whether autopsy or investigative costs can be charged and will send a memo to commissioners.
Commissioners asked whether opioid-settlement funds could be used to defray autopsy expenses in suspected overdose cases, citing concern that coroners' autopsy work affects the quality of mortality data used for public-health planning and for opioid-fund allocation.
"My understanding of the opioid settlement funds is those are for treatment related expenses," a staff member said, but the staff member agreed to research whether investigative or autopsy-related costs could be eligible and to send the commission a brief memo on findings.
Commissioners requested that any follow-up include counts of opioid-related deaths and a clear accounting so the board can consider targeted funding or other options; the coroner and prosecutors were invited to participate in the follow-up discussion.
