When we say that the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office is busy, it isn’t an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination. Recently, statistics for 2024 were published and the case load that was handled is quite staggering.
We’re taking a closer look at the TCME’s stats to get deeper insight into the cases that were handled, who handles them and how things have been trending in recent years.
The Area That Was Served by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office in 2024
Travis County is a pretty big place in terms of land area and population. Here are a few interesting stats:
Total square miles: 1,022
Square miles of land: 989
2024 Population: 1,363,767
Population density: 1,034
Of the 254 counties in Texas, Travis County ranks 76th in total area, and it’s 5th in population density. The massive size and population just in Travis County would keep the TCME office busy throughout the year, but its service area is much larger.
The Travis County Medical Examiner’s office currently serves 49 additional counties. A number of those additional counties are even larger than Travis County, and some of them have sizable populations. It’s an absolutely massive jurisdiction, which is why the case load for 2024 was pretty astounding.
On Average, the TCME Office Handled 22 Cases a Day in 2024
In 2024 alone, the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office handled a staggering 7,855 cases. That works out to be about 22 cases a day, and the office is open 365 days a year because their services may be needed at any given moment.
However, that doesn’t mean every case warranted a physical examination and even fewer involved an autopsy.
The TCME follows a very thorough process before an autopsy, starting with determining if the reported death falls under their jurisdiction. That job is handled by the death investigators. Here’s how those 7,855 cases were designated:
- 1,779 were deaths within Travis County that were determined to be within the TCME office jurisdiction and received a physical examination.
- 221 were within the jurisdiction, but it was determined no physical exam was needed.
- 2,351 cases were within the jurisdiction, but the deceased’s attending physician certified the death.
- 927 from outside of Travis County were within the jurisdiction and received a physical examination.
- 2,573 were determined to not be within the TCME jurisdiction, and therefore the office couldn’t handle the case.
- 4 cases turned out not to be human skeletal remains.
As you can see, although 7,855 cases were referred to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office, 2,706 moved forward to the physical examination phase. That’s still a large number of cases for any medical examiner’s office to handle. The number of cases from Travis County that receive a physical examination has been declining since 21 while the number of examined cases from other counties has increased in that time.
A Breakdown of the Cause and Manner of Death in Travis County Death Investigations
Now let’s take a quick look at the results of the death cases that were physically examined by the TCME office. A physical examination can be either an external exam only or an autopsy.
Of the death cases from Travis County, 1,254 involved an autopsy and 525 were external exams. Of the death cases from other counties, 905 involved an autopsy and 22 were external exams.
How this has trended over the last five years varies. The number of external exams for cases outside of Travis County have remained really consistent while autopsies haven’t had a clear upward or downward trend. For cases from Travis County, the number of autopsies has been declining while external exams have increased for the most part.
Undetermined Deaths Are More Common Than You May Think
It’s often assumed that an autopsy is going to reveal the cause and manner of death in virtually every case, but unfortunately that’s not always what happens. While the professionals at the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office are among the best forensic pathologists, toxicologists and death investigators in the country, they don’t always have all the answers. `
Last year, 2% of the cases that the TCME handled resulted in an undetermined cause. It worked out to be 45 of the cases in 2024.
This is why some families choose to have a second autopsy performed at a private forensics lab. These facilities are staffed by forensic pathologists and can usually perform all of the same tests as a medical examiner’s office or even specialized examinations. For example, Waterloo Mortuary can perform brain only neuropathology autopsies, which isn’t performed at the TCME’s office.
The TCME Office Personnel by the Numbers
You’d think with such a huge service area that covers thousands of miles and millions of people, that the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office would staff hundreds of people. But that’s not the case. Just staff included just 58 people across five departments. In 2024 there were:
- 10 forensic pathologists (including the Chief Medical Examiner and Deputy Chief Medical Examiner)
- 1 histology technician
- 15 investigators (including the Chief Investigator and Deputy Chief Investigator)
- 12 autopsy technicians (including the Chief Autopsy Technician and Deputy Chief Autopsy Technician)
- 7 forensic toxicologists (including the Chief Toxicologist and Deputy Chief Toxicologist)
- 1 Chief Operations Officer
- 12 administrative employees
There was also one forensic fellow that helped the TCME office. TCME is one of just 51 medical examiner offices in the U.S. that has an accredited forensic pathology fellowship training program. Their training is the final step for the fellow to become a forensic pathologist.
Cremation.Green is very familiar with the TCME office because we have coordinated with them on behalf of many clients over the years. If you get a call from the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office we’re here to help.
You can give us a call, text or email at any hour of the day!