When people die suddenly, unexpectedly or unnaturally in King County, their cause and manner of death is reviewed by our Medical Examiner. This review process helps us understand what happened to a given individual, but it also helps us identify, from a public health perspective, trends in death that our department can work to address. […]
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office is hoping forensic sketches of people who have died will help lead to their identification. At any given time, there are about 40,000 unidentified remains in the United States – around 50 in King County. Washington’s only forensic anthropologist, Dr. Kathy Taylor, investigates these remains with help from law […]
If we’re ever asked to consider that we might die someday, most of us probably hope it’s at home or doing something we love. For people experiencing homelessness in King County, 72 percent die in unfortunate public places, ranging from crawl spaces under buildings, to parked cars, to public parks. In 2017, the King County […]
Last year, 14,373 people died in King County. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office (MEO) investigated those deaths that were sudden, unexpected or unnatural – 2,494* in total. But, the count of life lost is more than a number. By tracking and analyzing different manners of death as well as trends in homicides, traffic fatalities, […]
In some way or another, most of us will be remembered in an event after we’re gone. A burial or scattering of ashes. Perhaps a religious ceremony. A gathering of friends and loved ones. But what if there was no one to claim our remains and honor our life? Every few years, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office (KCMEO) hosts a […]
The King County Medical Examiner and several Public Health staff, including experts in injury prevention and nursing, recently published an article in the King County Medical Society Bulletin that provides an important overview of sudden and unexpected infant deaths (SIDS/SUIDS). While many factors may contribute to these unfortunate losses, this article stresses the role of […]