Our request
We ask medical examiners and coroners to consider testing for ketamine in deaths of young adults involving drowning, falls, or crashes, consistent with local protocols and available resources.
Please record whether ketamine testing was performed, the result, and whether the result is unknown or unavailable using the same definitions each year.
Please describe the age range, years, case coverage, testing methods, and any changes to protocols so that yearly information can be compared responsibly.
Why it matters
Deaths involving falls, drownings, and crashes are part of the broader picture not captured by overdose counts alone.
Consistent recording of testing and its limits could help show what local records can and cannot answer without treating detection as proof of contribution.
What good reporting looks like
- Define the age range and the death categories before reporting counts.
- Retain not tested and unknown results rather than treating them as negative findings.
- Document changes in testing access, methods, and local practice.