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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:
May 3 2006
Contact: Greg Sandstrom
Phone: (360) 337-7077
No. 06-35
Coroner's Office Stands by Decision
in Shannon Case
PORT
ORCHARD, WA—The
Kitsap County Coroner’s Office issued a statement today detailing its investigation into the death of Kristina Shannon. Shannon, a 29-year-old
resident at Frances Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton, died at Harrison
Hospital on July 2, 2005. The office investigated the death, while the
autopsy was performed by Forensic Pathologist Dr. Emmanuel Q. Lacsina.
According to Greg Sandstrom,
Coroner, Dr. Lacsina found no evident cause of death as a result of the
initial autopsy. Therefore, the Coroner’s Office pended the cause of death
until further studies could be done, including sending blood to the
Washington State Toxicology Laboratory in
Seattle.
The results of the blood test showed a high level of chlorpheniramine, an
over-the-counter antihistamine, in
Shannon’s system. With no other indicators as to the cause of death, Dr.
Lacsina concluded the death should be ruled as acute drug intoxication due to
chlorpheniramine.
In investigating deaths,
the Coroner’s Office determines both the cause and manner of death when
evidence presents itself. The cause of death is the disease or injury
responsible for the lethal sequence of events. In the Shannon case, based on
the only evidence that presented itself, the blood test, a competent cause
of death was determined.
On the other hand, manner
of death explains how the cause of death arose. Again, the Coroner’s Office
must determine manner of death when evidence presents itself. If there are
no evident indicators as to the manner of death, the manner of death is
ruled unknown. If additional information is obtained that contradicts the
initial findings, the office will consider changing either the cause or
manner of death ruling. However, in the Shannon case, there was no evident
indicators as to the manner of death; therefore, the death was ruled
unknown.
“Our office has nothing to
gain or lose in determining the cause and manner of death in this or any
case,” said Greg Sandstrom, Coroner. “Rather, our job is to speak for those
who can no longer speak for themselves by conducting a thorough, impartial
death investigation. In this particular case, we sought the opinion of
several respected experts in the area of drug intoxication, including toxicologists at the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory.”
The State Attorney
General’s Office has repeatedly accused the Coroner’s Office of hindering
their investigation by not releasing the autopsy report to a private investigation
company, Emphasis Technography. However, according to
Washington
State law, the Coroner’s Office can only release the
report to law enforcement, the health department, the doctor or the family.
In this case, the Coroner offered to release the report to the Department
of Social and Health Services (DSHS), which would comply with the law. DSHS
could then pass the information on to whomever they chose. However, the
Attorney General’s office wanted the information sent directly to the
investigating firm.
Further, the Attorney
General’s Office also wanted the blood to be sent directly to the
investigating firm, which violates state and local toxicology policy. According to
proper state and local protocol and at the request of the family, blood can only be sent from one laboratory
to another. Emphasis Technography was an investigation firm, not a lab. Again, the Coroner
offered to have the laboratory send the blood to another lab of their
choosing, but the Attorney General’s Office declined to provide the name of
an appropriate lab.
“We have reviewed the
report sent to us from the investigating firm with Dr. Lacsina. Based on the
information currently available, we believe the original death determination
was correct—that Kristina died of acute drug intoxication in an unknown
manner.”
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