May issue.pdf - Wingspan

Spring 2009TheCatalystOpinion7Drug death classified accidentCoroner makes the tough decisionsBy DominicBenintendeLaramie County Community CollegeThough dyingis annevitable partf human exisence,it can beroubling to seeomeone chooseeath over life—r sobriety.In 2005 my friend Dylan,who was addicted to drugsfor a large portion of his life,told me he would die witha needle in his arm—he didjust that in February of thisyear.As it stands, deathscaused by overdose ofillicit substances such asstreet drugs are classifiedby Wyoming coroners asaccidental deaths unlessthere is evidence of intent.This means that unless theindividual took the drugwith the intention of killinghimself, the manner of hisdeath will be classified as accidentaland not suicide.Laramie CountyCoroner Martin Luna said,“Most drug users are pushingfor that first time theygot high and keep uppingthe amount they do toachieve that feeling.”My friend began injectingmethamphetamines intovarious parts of his bodyseveral years before he waseven old enough to drive.He lived long enough to inspiremany of his peers, butdied in his early 20s from aheroin overdose inside of atruck just outside of Denver.Luna’s duty as coroner isto determine the cause andmanner of death in casesthat require investigation,which is approximately 25to 30 percent of the deathsthat occur in Laramie County.Of the deaths that Lunainvestigates approximately64 percent are male.Luna’s data for 2007showed that males “are morelikely to commit suicide, bea homicide victim, die as aresult of drug overdose ordue to vehicular wrecks thanfemales.”The phrase “If I wasgoing to kill myself, I wouldjust blast a gram into myarm and be done with it”loops over and over withinmy mind now that Dylanis dead. I thought he wasspeaking hypothetically atthe time, but now I questionjust how accidental hisdeath was.My friend told me morethan once how addictedhe was, but he expressedacceptance not fear of thelife he led.“I’m going to die high,”Dylan said as I probed himabout his addiction as Ioften did in 2005.Even though he calledit like a batter who pointsto the area of the stadiumhe will hit the ball, I still“I make sure there is nodoubt whatsoever before Iclassify someone’s death.”Martin Luna-Laramie County Coronerthought another friend wasjoking when he called inMarch and said, “Dylan isdead.”In 2007, the LaramieCounty office of the coronerprocessed 14 suicides, anumber Luna said remainssteady year to year. In thesame year 26 accidents thatresulted in deaths were processedby the same office, anundetermined percentage ofthese were drug related.Luna and other coronerswithin Wyoming are theones who must make thecall whether a death is asuicide or an accidental one.“It’s tough—it really is,”Luna said as he explainedthe process of determiningthe manner of one’s death.“I use the 51 percentrule,” Luna said. “If 51percent of the evidencetells me it was a suicide [orany of the other classifications],then I will make thatclassification. If I have togo one way or the other, Iwill classify [the death] asundetermined.”Luna said the mannerof death can be classified asonly one of the following:• Natural.• Accidental.• Suicide.• Homicide.• Undetermined.“I make sure there is nodoubt whatsoever before Iclassify someone’s death,”Luna said.Less than 1 percent ofthe 225 cases he processed in2007 were given an undeterminedclassification.Luna said in these caseshe is usually able to determinethe cause of death, but notthe manner.This means he may knowa person’s death was caused byan illicit substance, but withoutevidence such as a note,previous attempts of suicide,or items of interest withinthe individual’s personal lifethat point toward suicide hecannot classify the manner ofdeath as a suicide.According to Luna,“Cause of death refers to theactual event that precipitatedthe death…, while the mannerof death refers to whatprecipitated the event.”“It boils down to intent.Suicide is a distinct intentionalact,” Luna said. “Almostalways there is an indicatorVernon Hedrickthere that says the case wasaccidental or a suicide. It isalso very rare for people to useillicit drugs for suicide.”In the case of my friendI can honestly say he was oneof the happiest people I haveever known. He left no note,or indicator he meant to killhimself that day. As far as anyof his friends or family knowshe was doing what he alwaysdid: getting high.The coroner whoprocessed Dylan’s deathclassified the manner asaccidental because of the lackof evidence pointing towardsuicide. Without the desire todie Dylan became a statisticfor accidental deaths in theDenver area even though heknew the risks of injectingstreet drugs into his body.So I ask the following:Did my friend kill himselfwith drugs, or did drugs killmy friend?I guess I’ll never know,so I’ll just focus on what I doknow: He was a good manwho will be greatly missed.Rest in peace, my friend.