Last year alone, 918 homeless people died. And in the last five years, deaths have jumped 76%, outpacing the growth of the homeless population, according to an analysis of county coroner data by Kaiser Health News.
Dr. Coley King, who treated Raymond Thill before his death, also cares for his wife, Sherry.
The surge also reflects a rise in the number of people who are chronically homeless and who don’t typically use shelters, meaning more people are living longer on the streets with serious physical and behavioral health issues, they say.and who have multiple health problems,” said Michael Cousineau, a professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “There are more complications, and one of those complications is a high mortality rate. It’s just a tragedy.
Based on those criteria, the coroner reported there were 3,612 homeless people who died in L.A. County between 2014 and 2018. Drugs and alcohol played a direct role in at least a quarter of the deaths of homeless people over the past five years, according to the analysis from the county coroner’s office. The substances also likely contributed to many more deaths, including those whose deaths were related to liver and heart problems.
Raymond Thill was just 46 when he died last year of what his wife, Sherry Thill, called complications related to alcoholism. The couple had been homeless for many years before moving into a small apartment in South Los Angeles shortly before his death.Thill said her husband often drank vodka throughout the day, and had been in and out of the hospital because of liver and other health problems. He tried rehab and she tried taking the alcohol away from him. Nothing worked.
Based on the data analysis, homeless people in Los Angeles County died from many of the same ailments as the general population — heart disease, cancer, lung disease, diabetes and infections. But they did so at a much younger age, said Dr. Paul Gregerson, who treats homeless residents as chief medical officer for JWCH Institute clinics in the Los Angeles area.
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