Identified! SC - Columbia, WhtFem 35-50, UP12594, schizophrenic, died in hospital, Feb'82 - Virginia Clyde Higgins Ray

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Jane Doe was a patient at SC Sate Hospital who was unable to provide her own name. Patient died as the result of a fall on 02/15/1982.
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/12594
 
I wonder how long she was a patient at the hospital? This was 1982, so quite some time after deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. She must have had a pretty severe illness to be residing there. I guess she had an accident on the campus and died?

Not much information to go on. So sad.
 
annemc2 said:
I wonder how long she was a patient at the hospital? This was 1982, so quite some time after deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. She must have had a pretty severe illness to be residing there. I guess she had an accident on the campus and died?

Not much information to go on. So sad.
Click to expand...

The wording is confusing. The way I first read it was that she was hurt in a fall and was transported to the hospital, but was too injured to give her name and eventually died. Your version makes sense too, though.

I wish they'd be more specific and say whether she was a patient who died as a result of a fall in the hospital, if she fell outside and was transported to the hospital where an employee recognized her as a former patient who'd recently been released, etc. I also wish they'd say how long she had been in that hospital, what name (if any) she used, and what mental illness she was there for.

I was thinking, there's the ''revolving door'' in psychiatry where a patient will be hospitalized for a short time, released, hospitalized again, released again, etc. If this is the case with the UID, then there have to be records of her in other hospitals or institutions, right? Maybe not in the area, but somewhere else in the state or even country. Unfortunately, it'd be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to find records of her like that. And this was 32 years ago, so they probably don't even exist anymore. : /
 
It's interesting to see others thoughts on this. Because I have worked in psychiatry as a nurse and NP, I immediately jumped to conclusions as to what happened.

When I saw the "State Hospital" part I gathered that she was chronically mentally ill and had been likely committed for weeks, months, or years. The only place that I've ever seen or taken photographs of a patient are for psych hospital charts. Back in the late 70s and early 80s patients would stay at the psych hospital for an indefinite amount of time and that "revolving door" hadn't really started swinging. Insurers and the government were still paying for care.

Which leads to the really weird part. We've seen cases where people are in legal limbo because they do not have a name/ID (notably Benjaman...ooh, I'm forgetting - need moar coffee). How would this woman have been committed, legally, without identification? Perhaps the legalities/billing were a bit more lax at the time?

So with the data provided my brain jumped to this: Jane Doe committed to SC State Hosp for severe mental illness. On 2/15/82 she disappears and is unable to be located. Later on her skeletal remains were found on the grounds and it is determined that she perished as a result of an accidental fall. The state of the remains matches up closely enough with the date last seen so they call 2/15/82 as the date of death. Nobody wanted to admit that this woman might have been out there for days before she succumbed to her injuries. Or, the injuries were so severe (e.g. skull fracture) that immediate death from her injuries was probable. Just speculation.

So yeah - more information would be very helpful!!
 
I'm assuming that she entered the hospital not due to a fault, since the colour photo of her is an admission photo, and she appears in good shape there. One thing I noticed is that in the admission photo, she has perfectly plucked eye brows.

However, frustratingly we don't know: When she entered the hospital, and FROM where either. She may well have been sent to the state hospital from elsewhere in SC... Grr, frustrating because there's so little info to work with.
 
I wonder what was on the photo that causes it to be distorted
 
astridxx said:
I wonder what was on the photo that causes it to be distorted
Click to expand...

Looks like one of those old style instant cameras they used for ID photos. The kind that took 2 or 4 pictures at the same time. They'd sometimes get wonky.
 
I assumed that she was in the state hospital for mental health issues and fell (or jumped?) to her death while she was there. I did dig up some stuff that mentions that conditions at that hospital weren't so great at the time.
 
vermontaigne said:
First person I thought of was Charlotte Heimann, but she's substantially younger and has a much larger chin.
Click to expand...

I don't really think it's her either, but that was a great suggestion.

Heimann wasn't mentally ill (that we know of) but knew about "forced" medical care in that she knew she would be safe from her abuser in a hospital if she feigned suicidal thoughts.

I mean no offense toward the mentally ill (I'm a bit "touched in the head" myself), but she looks too "with it" to be in a mental hospital. By that, I mean it looks like she takes care for herself and her appearance. Her eyebrows are sculpted. Her hair is not out of whack. I'm pretty sure she is wearing make up and that it doesn't look sloppily applied.

Heimann knew about the suicide rule and used it to hide from her abuser. She knew that it would let her hide out in the hospital for X-days. Maybe this is someone else running from something (abuser or even the law) who also knew she would be safe for a bit in a hospital.
 
annemc2 said:
It's interesting to see others thoughts on this. Because I have worked in psychiatry as a nurse and NP, I immediately jumped to conclusions as to what happened.

When I saw the "State Hospital" part I gathered that she was chronically mentally ill and had been likely committed for weeks, months, or years. The only place that I've ever seen or taken photographs of a patient are for psych hospital charts. Back in the late 70s and early 80s patients would stay at the psych hospital for an indefinite amount of time and that "revolving door" hadn't really started swinging. Insurers and the government were still paying for care.

Which leads to the really weird part. We've seen cases where people are in legal limbo because they do not have a name/ID (notably Benjaman...ooh, I'm forgetting - need moar coffee). How would this woman have been committed, legally, without identification? Perhaps the legalities/billing were a bit more lax at the time?

So with the data provided my brain jumped to this: Jane Doe committed to SC State Hosp for severe mental illness. On 2/15/82 she disappears and is unable to be located. Later on her skeletal remains were found on the grounds and it is determined that she perished as a result of an accidental fall. The state of the remains matches up closely enough with the date last seen so they call 2/15/82 as the date of death. Nobody wanted to admit that this woman might have been out there for days before she succumbed to her injuries. Or, the injuries were so severe (e.g. skull fracture) that immediate death from her injuries was probable. Just speculation.

So yeah - more information would be very helpful!!
Click to expand...

If she were an immediate danger to herself or others -- in a psychotic break, for instance, or wielding scissors at the nurses, or brought in after a suicide attempt, she could have been committed involuntarily. She would probably have been considered a ward of the state.
 
scrambledeggs said:
How about Bettina Minnie Antone? A long way from home but went missing two years prior. Mental health issues fit. Also says she has a mole on her left cheek which I can maybe see on the UID but the photo isn't that clear...

http://doenetwork.org/cases/763dfca.html
Click to expand...

BAntone.jpg

This is kind of what I was talking about in my last post. The DoeNet pic of Antone LOOKS like she wasn't taking care of herself (or at least caring about her appearance) well.

The photo of this Jane Doe doesn't have messed up hair, she looks like she's put on make up non-haphazardly and her eyebrows look "fixed" like she groomed them often.

Antone looks like she might have groomed eyebrows, but pic is too small to make sure. I can't see her having her mental issues, going missing and then taking better care of herself/looks.


I can't find this JD on Doe or anywhere other than NamUS. I wish we knew approximately how long she'd been in the hospital. NamUS just refers to as being a patient there. Nothing about how long she'd been there.
Has anyone run across that info anywhere?


Slightly off topic...
What is a nicer (less vulgar/offensive) way to say "rode hard and put up wet." That's a term I learned as a child, mainly from from "older people" (i.e. my grandma's age, born around 1920).
I understood the look they were talking about then, but didn't realize what the actual phrase meant until I was older (i.e. that it was pretty damned crude without using real cuss-words).
 
I could see that if Antone was committed to the hospital (with access to nutrition, grooming/hygiene, caregivers), detoxed from alcohol, and stabilized on antipsychotics she might be cleaned up a bit.

And bflocket *I totally know what you mean* about that phrase!! It sure is descriptive and usually perfectly captures a vision. I can't bring myself to say it, though, because it's just so...icky (and I have the mouth of a sailor). I usually end up saying something like "it looks like she's lead a hard life." Not as much of an impact but it's the closest thing I can come up with!
 
scrambledeggs said:
How about Bettina Minnie Antone? A long way from home but went missing two years prior. Mental health issues fit. Also says she has a mole on her left cheek which I can maybe see on the UID but the photo isn't that clear...

http://doenetwork.org/cases/763dfca.html
Click to expand...

She also has blue eyes and dark hair, her listed height is within 3 inches, and her listed weight is within 15 pounds. Also, her Charley profile says she lived a transient lifestyle, which makes it very possible she could have made it to South Carolina (although I do have a problem with the fact that she apparently left her car, makeup etc. behind at the motel she was living at).

She does resemble the UID. They both have the dimples, dark hair, a strong jawline and I can see the spot on the UID's cheek that looks like a mole. But there are some differences too, especially the hairline, tip of the nose, and the fact that Antone looks like she has a longer face.

I wouldn't say ''It's the same person'' based on the photo, but they look similar enough (and the information lines up well enough, too) that I think Bettina's a pretty good PM.
 
This JD case is irritating. Just as irritating as ones where there is hardly any info available (i.e. "partial skeletal remains found in the desert" or along a major river, etc). That's because someone HAS to know stuff that just hasn't been made public.

The photo is from her admission to the hospital. We don't know when that was.
If she were reported missing, the last contact she'd have with family/friends, etc, it would be BEFORE ADMISSION, not before her death. That would help rule people in/out better, especially since they apparently didn't know she was in the hospital.

We just know she died 2/15/1982 from a "fall." Was she a new arrival or had she been there for a while? What happened related to the fall? Had she jumped off of something (intentionally), that would nearly always be called "suicide" or at the very least "jumped to her death."

I could understand the lack of info if it happened recently. But HIPPA doesn't stretch back in time to the best of my knowledge (mother is MD).

Finding this info wouldn't be "meddling in her business" since it would be needed to find out who she WAS.
That is more important than protecting the privacy of someone who, as yet, isn't really a "someone" (at least in a legal sense with a name/SS#/etc).
 
This lady fits the parameters, but both photos are at an angle so I couldn't compare face/head shapes.

She'd left home (Erie, PA) "to get herself together" in 1979. She was kind of a transient, so that fits. She could also travel long distances safely (turned up in AZ once).

She has some distinguishing characteristics (scars, surgical screws) that weren't noted with JD, but all we have are her hair/eye color and height/weight.
All of those match other than eye color, but I've seen them be wrong about that a few times on both JD/missing profiles.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/f/flickinger_nellie.html
 
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