INDIANA — Changes could be coming to death certificates in Indiana.

A new bill seeks to change the way deaths are listed in the hopes of keeping more people alive.

State Senator Jim Merritt’s proposal, SB 74, would require county coroners to declare what drug killed someone on their death certificate. He says the inconsistent tracking from county to county makes it difficult to fight the heroin epidemic.

Some counties already list which drugs are involved in the overdose death, including St. Joseph County, but many coroners in other counties will usually not list the drugs a person overdosed on.

Dave Wells is Commander of the St. Joseph County Drug Investigations Unit. They focus on violent drug trafficking, major drug distribution, and drug overdose death investigations. He supports this new bill.

“We need to know. We need to know what people are dying from,” says Wells. “That way we can allocate our resources if we’re seeing a lot of heroin with fentanyl, for example. How much of it is out there? How frequently are we seeing it? That helps us kind of direct our resources into where it’s coming from – what side of town possibly is it coming from.”

In St. Joseph County, they are already tracking specific drugs listed on death certificates.

“With the counties and jurisdictions that aren’t doing that – I would suggest that they get on that and start doing that,” urges Wells.

In Elkhart, County Coroner James Elliott says they typically do not list the specific drugs a person overdosed on. He says he and many other coroners do so to respect the family’s privacy.

“However, I can understand the need for that to be used to track these problems – because there is a serious problem, not only in this area – but all over the United States.”

Drug testing becomes very expensive.

The new proposal would require a coroner’s death investigation to include a comprehensive drug panel. Each costs anywhere from $250 to $1000 a piece.

In Elkhart County, they investigate 220-240 cases per year. That can add up fast.

“It sounds to me like they’re wanting every case that we investigate drug tested – and right now, we can’t afford that in Elkhart County,” says Elliott. “So there’s going to have to be some kind of funding coming from somewhere else if they want us to drug test every case we investigate.”

Many coroners, particularly in smaller, rural counties are concerned about how much this will cost.

If this bill becomes law, the state will reimburse funds to county coroners to cover those additional tests. Officials estimate this will cost Indiana up to a million dollars a year.

Some in law enforcement believe it is well worth the price tag.

Wells says, “If you’re going to fight something that is killing people – killing our kids – you’re going to have to spend money. If you’re going to do it adequately and do it properly.”

Elliott agrees about the severity of the drug epidemic and the importance of fighting it, but he says making the information public record is not the right solution for tracking.

“If it needs to be tracked – which it can become tracked and not become public – I think that’s probably the way to go in my opinion,” says Elliott.

The Indiana State Coroners Association supports the proposal and is working with Senator Merritt to address their concerns with the bill.