Ropero-Miller Jeri D, Smiley-McDonald Hope M, Zimmer Stephanie A, Bollinger Katherine M
Applied Justice Research Division, RTI International, 3040 E. Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, 27709, NC.
Statistical and Data Sciences Division, RTI International, 3040 E. Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, 27709, NC.
J Forensic Sci. 2020 Mar;65(2):544-549. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14277. Epub 2020 Jan 28.
In 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported on 2004 data collected from the Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices (CMEC). The CMEC was one of the first comprehensive reports on the state of the medicolegal death investigation system in the United States and included information on administration, expenditure, workload, specialized death investigations, records and evidence retention, and resources. However, the report did not include responses on questions that were related to toxicology such as specimen retention and type of testing. The purpose of this publication is to provide the community with toxicology laboratory-specific responses from nearly 2000 medical examiner and coroner (MEC) offices. Data obtained from a BJS CMEC public use dataset for any remaining information that was not reported in the 2007 BJS report were evaluated specific to the operation of toxicology laboratories within a MEC office or specific to toxicology testing. The CMEC includes information on average operating budget for MEC offices with internal or external toxicology services, budget for toxicology/microbiology services, respondents' routine uses of toxicology analysis, toxicology specimen retention time, average turnaround times, use of computerized information management systems, and participation in federal data collections. These historical data begin to address the present state of our nation's toxicology laboratories within the medicolegal death investigation system and their preparedness for the current drug overdose epidemic.
2007年，司法统计局公布了从法医和验尸官办公室普查（CMEC）收集的2004年数据。CMEC是关于美国法医学死亡调查系统状况的首批综合报告之一，涵盖了行政管理、支出、工作量、特殊死亡调查、记录与证据留存以及资源等方面的信息。然而，该报告并未包含与毒理学相关问题的答复，如样本留存和检测类型。本出版物的目的是向社会提供近2000个法医和验尸官（MEC）办公室针对毒理学实验室的具体答复。从BJS CMEC公共使用数据集中获取的数据，针对2007年BJS报告中未报告的任何剩余信息，进行了针对MEC办公室内毒理学实验室运作或毒理学检测的评估。CMEC包括有关提供内部或外部毒理学服务的MEC办公室的平均运营预算、毒理学/微生物学服务预算、受访者对毒理学分析的常规用途、毒理学样本留存时间、平均周转时间、计算机化信息管理系统的使用以及参与联邦数据收集的信息。这些历史数据开始揭示我国法医学死亡调查系统中毒理学实验室的现状及其对当前药物过量流行情况的应对准备。
