Our request
We ask CDC and medical examiner and coroner partners to develop and evaluate a shared reporting standard that keeps 'detected' separate from 'involved' in death surveillance.
The standard should define each term and record, where known and supported by the investigation, the source and setting associated with ketamine: street supply, prescribed take-home use, clinic-administered care, or emergency care. Unknown and not documented should remain explicit categories rather than being inferred.
Please consult jurisdictional partners and publish the proposed definitions, implementation guidance, known feasibility limits, and a plan for evaluating consistency before interpreting changes over time.
Why it matters
Finding a substance in a person's body is not the same as determining that it contributed to a death.
Consistent definitions and source-setting fields could make surveillance more interpretable and help identify missing information. Their usefulness and feasibility would need to be evaluated with the agencies and local partners who collect the records.
What good reporting looks like
- Do not classify detection as involvement without an independent determination under the applicable investigative standard.
- Allow unknown, not documented, and not applicable responses.
- Avoid imposing assumptions about supply source or treatment setting when records do not establish them.