We called Morgan our little Buddha – she was always wise beyond her years even at this young age.
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I had only one question about the Tox report which came back negative on everything except second hand smoke, and two prescription drugs that Morgan did not take. Amitriptyline and Nortriptyline, one was much higher than other. I presumed that someone in the Coroner’s office had gotten her medical records somehow and knew she didn’t take these.
So I spoke with Dr. Kurtzman (the forensic pathologist that did her autopsy) and I explained to him that I was perplexed by these two prescription drugs on her Tox report, she did not take those prescription drugs, she actually did not take any prescription drugs. First he explained that one of the drugs is just a metabolite of the other so it occurs naturally when you take the other drug.
I explained that now I understood that it was not two drugs, but really just the one, but Morgan did not take it so why I wondered had it shown up in her tox report. His answer was, “obviously she did take it.” I was taken aback for a second, and again told him that no, she did not. I asked if he had checked with any of her doctors as they would know.
He did not answer that question, but told me that it was an insignificant amount anyway so it was best to ignore it. I shrugged, he was the doctor, if it was a tiny amount, there was some other way to explain it innocently and I left it at that.
Today is February 4, 2013 – And I wonder now if he was really being serious or just flippant when he said, “Obviously she did take it.” I wonder if there is some fact somewhere that led him to that statement or is it just common knowledge that daughters take prescription drugs without your knowledge all the time, especially during stalkings that end in suspicious deaths. At another point in the “investigation” they did tell me that, “parents are the last to know”.
With everything Morgan did to stop taking prescription medications, I could write a book about the courage, and devotion she put into it. It was at one time a goal of hers, and once Morgan made something a goal she usually achieved it. This particular goal was no different. And there sat the pathologist telling me, “obviously she did take it”.
He said it was an insignificant amount back then too, “best to just ignore it”. Not me, but the lab that tested thought differently. They were so helpful on the phone through all of this. I will always remember that call, astonishment would be my one word summation. They could not talk about individual cases of course because of confidentiality and all that, but they thought they had seen a level close to 10,000 once.
Overkill…doesn’t that count toward a crime of passion?
This Dr. sounds like he is the one on drugs…..i can not believe he still has a job. A blind man could of done better.So sorry for your loss Toni, keep up the hard work, someday hopefully soon justice will prevail.Prayers and love…..
So the lab thought Morgans level was 10,000? Or they could not confirm some things because of confidentiality? It sounds like they questioned the pathologists findings!
No it was 7,909 not 10,000 they were just remarking that it was one of the highest levels they had seen.
Ugh…”Obviously she did take it.” How could he say that to a mother who had just lost her daughter? Sounds like he was being a smartass, to me. Does this horrible man have children? We know he has no empathy, so I feel for his kids if he does have any.
His remark also reminds me of a Dr. I had to deal with after my mothers death. This Dr. Had her on every dangerous drug there was, knowing at least 3 of them were NEVER supposed to be taken together. When I confronted him about it after her death (I was 21), he said to me, “well sue me, little girl.”
Sickening!
I think he was just being clinical by saying if it was in her system then obviously she took it. You can retort that someone else made her take it, but I don’t think a doctor would be doing you a service by ignoring something found in her body because her mother says she doesn’t take prescriptions. My point is, you could be right, but it’s not the doctor’s job to sort that our, he just reports what shows up on the tests. Sorry for your loss.
You are correct about reporting it – of course it was the only drug in her bloodstream on the first tox report BUT then as a doctor he should have known it was a HUGE amount and then put “Undetermined” as a manner of death and not “Natural” so that the Sheriff’s could have started a suspicious death investigation, but no he had to play judge and jury and put “Natural” for the first 8 months and then change it to “Suicide” without opening an investigation into that theory, so again he was wrong – that is not being clinical in my mind. Plus he didn’t have to say she took it if it was found in her system – he could have said it was in her system, so either she took it or it was given to her, but he should have said we have to investigate to find out how it got there. Do you think on an autopsy if they find arsenic they assume the person took it? They may have, or they may have been poisoned, but the bottom line is they do an investigation. A young girl that died right after returning home one night showed no signs on autopsy (just like Morgan) and was buried…her parents never knew she had a stalker. Months later her friends told her parents about this creepy guy that wouldn’t leave her alone, and she didn’t want to upset her parents by telling them. They had her body exhumed, re-autopsied and found a single injection mark on her – her stalker worked in a hospital and when she would not pay attention to him he injected her with a drug he got from the hospital and it killed her. It did not show up on her original tox report, because they did not run a test for that particular prescription drug – just like Morgan, the other date rape drugs in Morgan did not show up until her gastric fluid was tested 6 months after she died, and we had no idea the forensic pathologist was doing that at that time. There are a lot of things we didn’t know about that test, as well as what the test results now tell us. What is that saying on TV that the body always reveals the hidden truth of what really happened?