A. SUMMARY This dataset includes data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on the number of preliminary unintentional fatal drug overdoses per month.

B. HOW THE DATASET IS CREATED The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner releases a monthly report containing the previous month’s preliminary count of unintentional fatal drug overdoses. This dataset is manually updated based on that report.

The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) investigates any unknown cause of death for deaths that occur in San Francisco. OCME uses drug testing, death scene investigation, autopsy, medical record, and informant information to determine the cause of death. Preliminary determinations are generally based on drug testing and death scene investigations.

Preliminary deaths reported by the medical examiner consist of two categories: (a) cases that are still under investigation and involve suspected acute toxicity from opioids, cocaine, or methamphetamine; and (b) cases that have been finalized and were attributed to acute toxicity from any substance (including prescribed medication and over-the-counter medication).

C. UPDATE PROCESS This dataset is updated monthly following the release of the monthly accidental fatal drug overdose report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Department of Public Health staff manually copy data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s report to update this dataset.

D. HOW TO USE THIS DATASET This dataset is updated each month to include the most recent month’s preliminary accidental fatal drug overdose count. Counts from previous months are often also updated as it can take more than a month for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to finish reviewing cases.

E. RELATED DATASETS San Francisco Department of Public Health Substance Use Services Overdose-Related 911 Responses by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Unintentional Drug Overdose Death Rate by Race/Ethnicity