The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
A "history of alcoholism" contributed to the death of an inmate in the Virginia Beach Correctional Center earlier this summer, state medical officials said Wednesday.
Sheriff's deputies found Jacquelynn Diane Schwartz, 31, dead early July 18, less than an hour after they had placed her alone in a cell when she started behaving strangely, Sheriff Ken Stolle has said.
Shortly after, the state medical examiner's office ruled Schwartz's death accidental and said she had choked on her plastic inmate identification bracelet. Additional investigation revealed a history of alcoholism contributed, an administrator for the office said Wednesday.
The administrator said he couldn't elaborate on the findings.
A General District Court judge sentenced Schwartz to 10 days in jail for contempt July 15 after she registered a 0.21 blood alcohol content when reporting to court on a speeding ticket.
But Schwartz's friends and family said she had no history of alcoholism and had not been drinking before driving to court from work in Newport News. Her husband, David La Clair, stood by that story this week.
"I'm pretty shocked," he said of the findings. "Nobody was aware of any kind of history of alcoholism, so there's some kind of disconnect here."
A pathologist would consider a variety of factors when determining whether someone had alcoholism, including liver damage, said Dr. Michael Bohan, a Virginia Beach addiction medicine specialist.
The most severe alcohol withdrawal - delirium tremens - can cause a person to display the erratic behavior officials said Schwartz exhibited the morning of her death: shaking, fever and hallucinations, Bohan said.
"They become crazed with alcohol withdrawal," Bohan said. "So they're not in touch with reality and they can have really unusual strength, like ripping off the hand bracelet and then chewing on it and, perhaps, inhaling it."
About 15 percent of people who suffer from delirium tremens die, Bohan said. Individuals who are alcohol-dependent require medication and, ideally, hospitalization to prevent that outcome after they stop drinking, he said.
A nurse at the jail evaluated Schwartz the morning of July 18, but decided she did not require special medical attention, Stolle has said. All inmates are screened for medical and substance-abuse issues.
Police and the Sheriff's Office found no wrongdoing in Schwartz's death. Stolle said she was monitored by cameras and checked on five times during the 50 minutes she was alone in a cell.
The Sheriff's Office also has investigated whether another inmate gave Schwartz prescription painkillers and psychotropic drugs prior to her death. They've charged Linda Marie Pappas, 24, with nine felony counts of delivering drugs to a prisoner.
Pappas has denied giving drugs to Schwartz, Stolle said. She's scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
A toxicology report would determine whether drugs were in Schwartz's system, but that information is not public.
Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com
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Dieing in Jail
The nurse that screened the woman apparently didn't pay attention enough to try to figure out why this woman was not making much sense. It looks like the put her in jail and since they had in jail , they didn't bother to look at her for a while because after all she is just another person with an addiction. I feel that the city is at Fault in this whole tragedy. She died while in care of the c ity of Va Beach and the city should be responsible.
Dieing in Jail
Well ive read all the comments at least 4 times just to make sure I understood everyone's thinking. ive spent a lot of time in my life in the VA beach jail, now IM not proud of that but there's got to be bad for there to be good just like there has to be night for there to be day etc.. Dieing in the VA beach jail is something I first hand have came close to more than once, one time I was so sick I was down to the last hour before being released and they made me wait throwing up with a fever and high blood pressure when the nurse checked me earlier in the day my blood pressure was at 190/109 and they sent me back to my cell, i don't believe this lady dies but from any other reason then unfit staffing at the jail.
We can
argue all day about whether she should have been found in contempt and whether she should have been detained, but why in hades with a BAC of 0.21 was she not sent to detox rather than to jail?
Not all people with BAC north of 0.20 need detox.
Not all people with a BAC north of 0.20 NEED detox.
Jail substance abuse/medical screenings include questioning inmates about possible drug/alcohol use/abuse/addiction, other chronic medical conditions and prescription medications (think ER triage).
Addicts and chronic medical/mental health cases make up a good deal of jail populations; this is nothing new. However, if a person lies about/downplays their drug/alcohol use, chronic medical history, etc. and there are no clear signs/symptoms of withdrawal/disease present what is the jail (or hospital for that matter) to do? Treat people for illness they claim they don't have with no proof that they are ill at all? Commit people to detox facilities? That can only be done under court order.
My question remains
If she was funtioning normally , e.g., no slurred speech, the ability to move and walk normally, and had a BAC OF 0.21, should't it have been obvious to medical personnel that she was a prime candidate for lethal alcohol withdrawl. It seems to me that someone responsible for screening should have been able to put 1 + 1 together, especially knowing that alcoholics are often in denial.
If it requires a court order to be placed in detox, consider that she was already where she was because of a court order. Someone 'dropped the ball' on this, and now it's the system that's in denial.
An average adult without
An average adult without physical alcohol dependence who, on 1 occasion, drinks to the point of vomiting will usually achieve about 0.20 BAC.
BUT people who drink heavily for prolonged periods can develop a physical dependence on alcohol. When physical dependence meets abstinence several symptoms are possible-temperature elevation, tremors, rapid heartbeat, anxiety, nausea. During or after these symptoms it's possible for delirium tremens (DT) to manifest; DT is an alcohol withdrawal syndrome (not symptom) and can cause death.
How do you identify those who simply had a 1 time alcohol binge vs. those with physical alcohol dependence? VERBAL SCREENING. A patient who isn't truthful can't be properly treated. There's no medical crystal ball.
"How do you
identify those who simply had a 1 time alcohol binge vs. those with physical alcohol dependence?"
You yourself said that those who have had a one-time drinking binge will exhibit severe physical symptoms, e.g. vomiting, if they reach a 0.20 BAC. So by contrast, a person with a physical alcohol dependence would exhibit no physical symptoms with a 0.21 BAC; and so would not this situation indicate such a dependence, with a strong likelyhood of delerium tremens if abstinence occurs because of incarceration--without the need for verbal screening.
Alcohol Tolerance vs. Physical Alcohol Dependence
Not everyone who achieves about 0.20 BAC vomits; an average adult w/o a heightened alcohol tolerance would probably vomit. Someone with a heightened TOLERANCE (vs. physical DEPENDENCE) could drink as much as someone w/o a heightened tolerance and not experience illness although both parties drank the same type/amount of alcohol and achieved about the same BAC.
Physical dependence is the dangerous thing.
You can't look at someone who has no outward symptoms and determine their alcohol related medical needs. A verbal assessment identifies amount/frequency of use, type of alcohol used, binge history, alcohol tolerance and history of DTs. Without this information it is IMPOSSIBLE to provide proper treatment until/unless major symptoms appear.
young lady who died at jail
I've worked around people who are regular drinkers, and if you don't know or want to know what to look for, you would never know they were drunk. A person who is an alcoholic can wake up with a BAC at or over the legal limit from drinking the night/day before. Their body needs the alcohol to maintain function, just as the rest of us need food. A person that is in this state knows how to hide the problem from others. As a former operator for the BAC, the machine does not pick up any other substances but alcohol. If the Sheriff's dept took every person showing signs of withdrawal to the hospital, there would not be room for anyone else there.
The only person to blame for
The only person to blame for Jacquelynn Diane Schwartz's death is Jacquelynn Diane Schwartz.
Make all the excuses for her you want if it helps you sleep better.