Why wasn't a FULL autopsy done???

Nurses General Nursing

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My Aunt died of mysterious causes last Tuesday, she turned 59 on the day she died. My family is distraut and we're pretty sure her husband killed her......he tried to do it 11 years ago using prescription pills (he's a pharmacist). My mom had turned him into the FBI when my Aunt almost died 11 years ago, but they just gave him a slap on the wrist and he lost his job.....he went on to open his own store.

My Aunt had been through rehab recently and was doing fantastic. We could actually have a conversation with her and she wasn't slurring her speech, she made sense, and she said she was feeling fantastic. She said she had turned over a new leaf and was starting to live life to the fullest.

The details of her death are a mystery......he keeps changing his story. The first story was that she was having an anxiety attack, so he gave her "some pills". When questioned what the pills were he said "Two Atarax." My mom asked if her sister had a prescription for the pills and he said no, he just happened to have some and gave them to her. He woke up later and she was having a hard time breathing, woke up an hour later and she was not breathing, so he did CPR, called the ambulance, ect.

The next story he told was that he had just woke up and she was not breathing, he called the ambulance and they had said she had a pulse, took her to one hospital, then they shipped her to another hospital and they couldn't revive her.

Another story was similar, but she was DOA and they shipped her to a second hospital anyway (why they would ship a dead body to another hospital is beyond me).

There is a few more stories he's telling that are similar, but don't match up.

Anyway, after many calls, we finally get ahold of him to find out where the funeral is and if there's going to be an autopsy (we live 3 hours away). He said yes, there will be an autopsy and told us where the funeral was.

One hour before the funeral starts he tells us that there was only a chemical autopsy done. Well, that won't tell us if he put a pillow over her face while she was struggling to breath, or any other horrific things he may have done to her........:( He certainly didn't act like the grieving husband of 40 years at the funeral. He was laughing and joking around. At the after funeral dinner he laughed and told people to go up and get more food because he had my Aunt's checkbook and she had lots of money in it......she was "buying". SICKO!!!!! Then when we were leaving he gave my mom a hug and said "I can do this alot now that I'm single". My mom gave him a shove, called him a few nasty names and walked out.

My point here is.........Why wasn't there a FULL autopsy done???? How can they get away with a chemical autopsy under such mysterious circumstances??? I'm afraid we'll never know the cause of her death and that he may be getting away with murder. This will eat away at my mom and my poor grandma for the rest of their lives if we don't get an answer. He said there won't be any results for 2 weeks.......we're trying to get enough evidence together to get her exhumed and have a full autopsy done, but aren't sure how to go about it. It's sad to think my Aunt may have to be exhumed, but how can she rest in peace if he killed her and got away with it. It's a sad and sick situation all the way around.........HELP!!!!!!!!

jt...ill betcha the sister can get the medical records UNLESS the husband has signed for them not to be seen by any family member other than him...if thats the case, id say you have a pretty good answer right there

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Please contact caj--he's a trust worthy person and can help expidite things for you. Sorry I didn't include him in first post....and he LOVES nurses.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm going to print this out and show my family.

The slurred speech was from being drugged up all the time by him. I've seen it first hand when she would complain of a headache he would push pills on her. She would ask what it was and he'd tell her to nevermind, he knew what was best for her and she should take the pills.

When she almost died 11 years ago it happened at my Grandma's house. He dumped her off to go golfing and a while later she turned blue and almost stopped breathing. My mom called an ambulance and after they took my Aunt, another Aunt and my mom went through her suitcase and found 3 HUGE ziplock baggies full of pills that weren't in bottles. The FBI was notified, they investigated, found that where he worked pills were missing, gave him a slap on the wrist, and he opened his own store. I can't remember exactly what pills were in those bags, this happened the day before my high school graduation.

He wanted the body cremated, but her 3 sons said that they didn't want that, so luckily she is buried.

Believe me, it is hard to be coming here and accusing someone of murder, my hands are shaking as I type this, but I need to know what steps my family needs to take. We're apprehensive of going to police because we don't want them to laugh in our faces. We also don't want hard feelings with my cousins, but we can't live the rest of our lives wondering what exactly happened.

You HAVE to go to the police. Thats the first step to get your answers. So what if they laugh (I doubt they will but if they do - so what?) The man has a history. You just stand firm & push it until they pay attention or go above their heads. All you have to do is give them the info you have put here, including his past "activity", they will do the rest. Even if he didnt intentionally mean to kill her, if he was giving unprescribed drugs to her, he was doing something illegal. Let them investigate. You arent going to get any answers any other way. After her report comes back showing unprescribed meds, report him to his licensing board.

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Please accept my condolences upon your aunts passing.

CAJ is an expert. You have his opinion and need to implement it NOW. Talk w/ you Mom and Grandmom and get it in progress. STAT.

Atarax is Vistaril with a different radical on the end. A lot of people have prescriptions for it for itching, nausea et. al.

This whole thing stinks. Do as CAJ says and call the authorities, not the funeral home or doctor.

That is a terrible situation. I am so sorry for your loss. Death is hard enough to deal with WITHOUT this type of suspect behavior. My thoughts are with you, and your family. Please keep us posted on what is being done.

Again, so sorry,

BrandyBSN

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