Dominican Republic - American tourists found dead in resorts, same cause of death, 2018/2019

[PrairieWind]

So we maybe have yet another death? Who owns this resort? I don't have time to look into it.

 

[castilloisno1]

Woman says husband died in Dominican Republic last year, similar to recent deaths of Americans there

 

[dotr]

Woman says husband died in Dominican Republic last year, similar to recent deaths of Americans there

From link, thanks.

"McCoy says her husband, who was just 45 years old when he died, was in good health, but after feeling sick one night he woke up early in the morning unable to breathe. She says she called repeatedly for an ambulance but says they would only call for a doctor and it took more than 20 minutes.

She says she sympathizes with the other families. In fact, in an ironic twist, she went to Oxon Hill High School with Cynthia Day, but says they hadn’t spoken in years.

FOX 5 learned Wednesday night that Day and her fiancé felt sick the night before they died and called a doctor but declined medication because it was too costly.

McCoy says she’s not surprised — she stayed at a different resort but says in all it cost $20,000 dollars to get her husband home.

“The hotel doctor costed almost $3,000 and they would not let us check out until I paid that,” said McCoy. “It’s like a scab reopened.”

McCoy had her husband cremated and is now regretting that she didn’t get a second autopsy."

 

[?mysterian?]

That's awful, IMO.

Wonder how many more incidents have happened and not been reported?

 

[PrairieWind]

That's awful, IMO.

Wonder how many more incidents have happened and not been reported?

I suspect we are about to hear about a lot more illnesses/deaths that slipped under the radar. Now that its hitting the news, people will start coming forward.

 

[Ray_of_hope]

I'm glad to see these 3 deaths being discussed on the national and local news in the USA. Hopefully, the investigative agencies will work together and allow access for resolution. Though retired, any death outside of the hospital, unless the patient had a terminal disease, was tested for toxicology when I practiced.

"The bodies of all three Americans were transported to forensic science institutes in the the nation for examinations, officials said.
In the case of Schaup-Werner, paramedics provided first aid, but she died in the room, according to Col. Frank Felix Durán Mejia of the Dominican Republic National Police. Her cause of death has not been determined, and a toxicology report is pending, but no violence was involved, the police official said." (snipped)
The article reports the resort stated that Schaup-Werner was determined to have died of a heart attack.

""The case of Mr. Holmes and Ms. Day remains under investigation by the authorities with the results of toxicology tests still pending," the resort operator said. "We disapprove of any conjecture on possible causes of death and urge all to respect the families while the investigation is ongoing." " (snipped)
The article says that there were blood pressure, anti-inflammatory and opiod meds in the room. A large number of people are on anti-hypertensive meds and it's very unusual for two to die simultaneously together.

"Forty-eight Americans died in the Dominican Republic between 2016 to 2018. The deaths were a result of several things, including drowning, homicide, suicide, vehicle or other types of accidents, the State Department said." (snipped)

Dominican Republic deaths: Families want answers after 3 deaths within five days - CNN

 

[roche.analisa]

Dominican resort where Md. couple died issues statement | WTOP

 

[scriabina]

Dominican resort where Md. couple died issues statement | WTOP

Wow, lots of changes in that resort's statement. Now the couple and the woman were staying at different hotels within the same resort, and the woman's cause of death is supposedly heart attack. That doesn't preclude the initial cause of death, pulmonary edema, as heart attack can bring on acute (cardiogenic) pulmonary edema. It just seems a bit odd that they didn't identify the underlying cause of death right away.

The worst part is that they did NOT run a toxicology report. Why not run one and rule out anything suspicious?

According to the resort, the couple's cause of death is now undetermined.

 

[neesaki]

Could it be succinylcholine?
Pick Your Poison

 

[scriabina]

Could it be succinylcholine?
Pick Your Poison

That's a good suggestion. Sux is fast-acting and often missed in tox reports, with cause of death appearing to be heart attack. However, it's an injectable drug with low bioavailability when taken by mouth, so pouring it into a drink would not have the same effects.

 

[neesaki]

That's a good suggestion. Sux is fast-acting and often missed in tox reports, with cause of death appearing to be heart attack. However, it's an injectable drug with low bioavailability so pouring it into a drink would not have the same effects.

I was wondering whether it would work via oral in ingestion.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

So now to make me even more paranoid about traveling.... should we not drink alcohol from bars unless we purchase the bottle and inspect it ourselves? I have never been out of the country (and I know things like this happen IN our country too) but what does a hotel or someone have to gain from poisoning alcohol? Or could it be some sort of incident from drinking water... can you drink tap water in DR? Some type of parasite or bacteria people react to?

 

[BlueShoe]

I don't think we should stop traveling out of the U.S., although, of course there are many beautiful places here. We should be more cautious in our travels and rely on more than googling travel sites. I hope we find out what happened here, but I would probably avoid the Dominican Republic unless I had close friends there to help direct me. The world is a risky place, but with careful research it is as safe to travel outside the U.S. as it is within. MOO

 

[PrairieWind]

So now to make me even more paranoid about traveling.... should we not drink alcohol from bars unless we purchase the bottle and inspect it ourselves? I have never been out of the country (and I know things like this happen IN our country too) but what does a hotel or someone have to gain from poisoning alcohol? Or could it be some sort of incident from drinking water... can you drink tap water in DR? Some type of parasite or bacteria people react to?

Don't be paranoid, just be careful. Hotels have nothing to gain by intentionally poisoning alcohol. First of all, we don't know if that was the source of the problem here at all. But assuming it was, sometimes very cheap booze is purchased in place of legit brands. This cheap alcohol can contain high levels of methanol due to poor quality control in manufacturing. This bad booze is slipped into the regular drinks. This typically doesn't happen in the U.S. because liquor production and distribution is controlled much more tightly. So a resort looking to maximize profits (or probably more likely a manager looking to pocket purchase budget money) may authorize less then legit liquor purchases. Usually nothing goes wrong, other than a few hangovers that may be worse than expected. But occasionally, the odds are going to catch up and a particularly bad batch shows up. Again, don't know this happened here. The fact that the one wife had one or two drinks and died sort of tells me that maybe something else is in play other than bad booze.

 

[JDG]

Wow, lots of changes in that resort's statement. Now the couple and the woman were staying at different hotels within the same resort, and the woman's cause of death is supposedly heart attack. That doesn't preclude the initial cause of death, pulmonary edema, as heart attack can bring on acute (cardiogenic) pulmonary edema. It just seems a bit odd that they didn't identify the underlying cause of death right away.

The worst part is that they did NOT run a toxicology report. Why not run one and rule out anything suspicious?

According to the resort, the couple's cause of death is now undetermined.

Until the toxicology reports are in, I doubt there will be definitive answers. They probably have a *good idea* but that's not definitive enough.

 

[JDG]

Wow, lots of changes in that resort's statement. Now the couple and the woman were staying at different hotels within the same resort, and the woman's cause of death is supposedly heart attack. That doesn't preclude the initial cause of death, pulmonary edema, as heart attack can bring on acute (cardiogenic) pulmonary edema. It just seems a bit odd that they didn't identify the underlying cause of death right away.

The worst part is that they did NOT run a toxicology report. Why not run one and rule out anything suspicious?

According to the resort, the couple's cause of death is now undetermined.

Just saw this, how odd to NOT run a tox screen in sudden deaths!

 

[Ray_of_hope]

CNN just reported that a health inspection was being done at the resort (I didn't hear by who) and that autopsy results are coming in.

 

[Hatfield]

Sounds to me as if the alcohol had been tainted. This has happened recently at a five star resort in Mexico. And the fact another couple died around the same time, tells me there is a connection.

IMHO

Abbey Conner: Mexican resort served "poisonous" alcohol to woman who died, family says of January 2017 death - CBS News

I just thought of another reason why I'm sticking with tainted alcohol too for most of these types of cases. Especially the cases where the victims used any products from the mini bar.

What I was having trouble understanding is even for bootleggers peddling a batch of their homemade brew then how could anyone allow it to get this far to where they realize it is deadly and killing people.

Then I remembered something that happened to me once on one of my batches of wine I made. I had one batch where when I first corked the bottles and made the batch, my alcohol content was very weak on that particular batch. Good sweet tasting fruity wine but not much alcohol. Well, after about 2 months or so, I opened another bottle of that batch, and walla, the alcohol content had gone up quite a bit and they tasted much better. So fermentation and chemical processes can actually occur some in the bottle. At least for homemade wine it does.

So maybe the buildup of methanol or whatever ends up killing people can actually increase in the bottle on the shelf over time. So maybe the bootleggers did not even know their batch was deadly at the time it was sold to a resort.

Just a guess as to how tainted liquor can get so far before people realize it is deadly.

 

[Ray_of_hope]

"Miranda Schaup-Werner, the first of three American tourists to die mysteriously within a week at a Dominican Republic resort, succumbed to a heart attack, the Caribbean island's attorney general said Thursday.
Maryland couple Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Day, who were found dead five days after the Pennsylvania woman died, had internal bleeding, including in their pancreases, and fluid in their lungs. Cynthia Day also had fluid in her brain, Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez Sanchez's office said in a statement." (snipped)

"Health inspectors, including environmental health and epidemiology specialists, were inspecting the hotels Thursday and should have results Friday or Monday, said Carlos Suero, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health." (snipped)

Dominican Republic deaths: Families want answers after 3 deaths within five days - CNN

 

[Ray_of_hope]

I wonder if they'll determine their deaths were from acute severe hemorrhagic pancreatitis? Both at the same time, and one had no time to call for help ?! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17721182