http://mrsadiagnosis.com:80/mrsa-death-in-florida-prison/
MRSA Death in Florida Prison
February 29, 2008
Our condolences go out to the family and friends of Dorothy Dian Palinchik who died yesterday. She had been battling
for 2 weeks with a staph infection that started in a Pinellas County Jail in Florida. This highlight the fact that MRSA
needs be taken seriously by health care providers, whether in a hospital or a prison. MRSA is a deadly infection that
has superior resistance to antibiotics.
Here is the story as reported by the local paper. There is a link at the end for the full story.
Dorothy Dian Palinchik dies only hours after her family decides to remove her from life support.
By Johnathan Abel, Times Staff Writer
Published February 29, 2008
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Dorothy Helen Palinchik began the last day of her daughter’s life with a terrible choice.Her daughter, Dorothy Dian
Palinchik, was in a medically induced coma at Largo Medical Center, suffering from a staph infection and pneumonia,
both of which the family said she contracted at the Pinellas County Jail.
Just before 7 a.m. Thursday, doctors told Palinchik that her 42-year-old daughter’s blackened hands and feet were
irreversibly damaged and her bowels were not viable.
The only choice was between amputating all of Palinchik’s limbs or taking her off life support. Just a few hours later,
doctors amended their decision, saying amputation was out of the question.
“They said she would never live through something like that,” Palinchik’s mother said.
At that point, the family decided to remove Palinchik from life support, once her sister Annette Olds drove in from Fort
Myers this morning.
But Palinchik’s ravaged body couldn’t wait.
At 4:14 p.m. she was pronounced dead, ending a tortured two-week illness that has raised questions about the medical
care at the Pinellas County Jail.
Palinchik’s family blames the jail for not recognizing the illness earlier and for not treating it aggressively enough. They
believe her life could have been saved if she’d been taken to the hospital sooner.
On Thursday, Palinchik’s mother had a preliminary conversation with St. Petersburg lawyer Thomas D. Masterson about
suing the jail.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said privacy laws prevented her from discussing Palinchik’s medical
treatment. She said an internal investigation is under way, which is standard in any case where an inmate becomes
gravely ill.
The only thing she could say about Palinchik’s condition is that she showed no signs of the methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus infection when she was booked into the jail on Feb. 13.
One of the remarkable aspects of Palinchik’s death is how quickly she deteriorated.
more on this story: http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/29/Northpinellas/Infection_claims_inma.shtml