Scripps Howard's latest findings that there is a small, but growing, number of coroners in America who report most infant deaths were actually accidental suffocations is drawing fierce debate around the nation. "Once again, this Scripps News Service series implies that SIDS is a diagnosis usually made in ignorance or laziness by coroners and medical examiners," said Ventura County, Calif., Medical Examiner Ronald O'Halloran. "The conclusion that many infants die from suffocation rather than SIDS is premature based on the current state of scientific knowledge." He found that 74 percent of the deaths in his county were SIDS. In neighoring Los Angeles County, however, an almost equal percentage were ruled to be "death by unknown causes."