Sparrow lead pathologist breaks down death report

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Newly released data shows how many death investigations the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow completed in 2023.

The pathology report covers all 7 counties that Sparrow is the medical examiner for. Michelle Fox, the supervisor for Sparrow’s forensic pathology department and the chief investigator for the officer of the medical examiner, broke down the report.

“The number of deaths that have been reported to us, the total is actually down significantly,” Fox said.

She said there were not as many death investigations in 2023 as there were in 2022, and that includes child deaths.

“Any deaths under the age of 18, those numbers are down this year, so that’s a bonus,” Fox said.

But she said even though child deaths are down overall, unsafe sleep-related child deaths are up. Fox said there was 1 case in 2022 and 2023 saw 8 cases.

“I feel like that is pretty significant. 8 across all of the counties,” Fox said.

Another aspect of the report Fox said stuck out was drug-related deaths. The report shows the number has not changed significantly, but Fox said the age of those affected has changed.

“The median age range was 42.5 [in 2022]. This year [2023] for those counties it’s 43.5 and we are seeing that across all of our counties here in mid-Michigan. That’s not the same as what we see with the national standard. So we are a little bit different in an increase there,” Fox said.

In previous years the report has covered Ingham, Eaton, Shiawassee, Isabella, and Ionia counties. The 2023 report adds Clinton and Livingston Counties, so it will be crucial for comparison in the coming years.

“Now we can compare 2023 to 2024 when we get that annual report completed. Bringing in their numbers it did increase things but not significantly to the point of saying okay we have a lot more deaths because of these 2 counties,” Fox said.

Epidemiologists will use this report to determine the reasons behind the numbers.

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