Medical examiner: 2025 deaths in Kalamazoo County, tissue donations up, unclaimed cases persist

Patrick Hansma, Kalamazoo County medical director, presented the office's 2025 annual report to the board on Aug. 5, highlighting both investigative workload and organ/tissue donation trends. "On that first page... showing the total number of deaths in Kalamazoo County, 3,258," he told commissioners as he walked through tables and charts.

Hansma said 922 deaths were reported to the medical examiner in 2025, 754 required investigators to respond to scenes, 368 bodies were transported to WMed, and 138 required complete autopsies. Referrals to Gift of Life rose sharply to 593 (from 302 the prior year), driving a corresponding increase in tissue donations. He also noted 63 unclaimed investigations, which remain a countywide challenge; the medical examiner offered to mine case management data if the board wanted demographic details about those decedents.

The report broke deaths down by manner and age group: natural deaths were the largest category (866 in the medical-examiner caseload), accidental deaths were the second-largest with motor vehicle collisions, drug-related fatalities totaled 48 accidental drug deaths plus other categories, and pediatric deaths increased to 10 infant deaths (autopsied and certified). Commissioners asked for additional breakdowns (demographics of unclaimed decedents, environmental exposures), and Hansma invited commissioners to schedule facility tours.

Hansma noted staffing pressures: forensic pathologists are scarce and recruitment is ongoing, and the office has seen departures of senior staff. The board thanked the medical examiner's office for its work and requested follow-up on specific demographic and environmental-exposure questions.