Riverside County Public Health this week announced the first confirmed fatal carfentanil overdose in a Riverside County resident. Officials said a man in his 40s died in March in Los Angeles County as the result of a carfentanil overdose.
“Although toxicology results can come back in a few weeks, other aspects of the investigation take time,” said Wendy Hetherington, branch chief of the Epidemiology & Program Evaluation at Riverside University Health System – Public Health. “This particular death took place outside of Riverside County, and that is another delay for the death to be reallocated to Riverside County.”
Hetherington said that all suspected overdose deaths are investigated by the coroner/medical examiner and can take about three months to determine the final cause in order to both eliminate other potential causes of death and to determine whether the overdose was intentional or unintentional…