When a loved one dies, families would like closure.

Carbon County’s coroner is hoping that a new piece of equipment his office has obtained will help provide quicker answers on whether the person’s death is drug related.

Last month, Mark Smith announced that his office officially began using the Randox Evidence MultiStat Analyzer in possible drug related death investigations.

The machine, purchased through the Opioid Settlement Funds, is designed “to provide rapid, accurate drug testing results.” The county is now one of three counties in the state that has this piece of technology. The others are Lehigh and Bucks counties.

The Carbon County Coroner’s Office has three certified Randox technicians on staff and they play a crucial role in supporting death investigations, ensuring accurate and timely drug testing results.

“We get answers in a timely fashion,” Smith said of the Randox equipment. “We’re looking at maybe 30 minutes of prep time and then it takes the machine approximately another 30 minutes to run and analyze the samples. The big advantage to this is going to be that it gives the families answers versus waiting six weeks for the toxicology results.”

Smith added that the new equipment also can help law enforcement during investigations by providing some answers in hours that normally took weeks to obtain.

“If we have a case that we know this but now we can run the test and tell law enforcement what we found in the system. We know there is going to be further testing, but now you get a head start and know what you’re looking for. It will help guide us in investigations.”

Smith used the example of one case where it was suspected that the cause of death was a drug overdose. Through the sample testing, the coroner’s office was able to determine that no drugs were found in the system, which led to an autopsy to learn that the person died of natural causes.

In addition to quicker answers, Smith said that this will save Carbon County staff time and money.

“It already did,” he said, noting that it could cut down the need for some autopsies. Carbon County budgets approximately $100,000 a year for autopsies. “If we can cut back on that number, we can leverage that for more advancements that are desperately needed here.”

He added that any drug overdose is considered an accidental death unless other evidence suggests otherwise so this new equipment will now allow Smith’s office to close out cases quicker, issue death certificates in a more timely manner and provide some closure to families.

Looking ahead, Smith said that Carbon County may be able to provide help to neighboring counties, like Lehigh County had done with Carbon before this purchase.

Smith also thanked a partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network that allowed the coroner’s office to have morgue space, as well as office space in the Lehighton campus. St. Luke’s provided this space at no cost to the county.