Dr. G: Medical Examiner - Season 2, Episode 13 - The Desperate Crossing - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: A disabled woman is found dead in broad daylight in the middle of a public park.
A lot of people could have attacked her. She can't fight back very easily. NARRATOR: Police suspect foul play,
and the victim's mother faces her worst fear. Some evil person had seen perhaps what they thought was a helpless girl in a wheelchair.
NARRATOR: Can Dr. G discover who or what killed this woman and bring some peace to a bereaved mother?
Then a man dies suddenly and unexpectedly after complaining of what appear to be
non-life threatening ailments. He had sore throat and neck pain. NARRATOR: But the autopsy soon revealed
something far more frightening deep inside his body. Look at that. It's so bad you can just squeeze the puss out
of the layers of the muscle. This is a sore throat from hell. NARRATOR: Altered lives, baffling medical mysteries,
shocking revelations. These are the everyday cases of "Dr G Medical Examiner." [MUSIC PLAYING]
Coming through with laundry. NARRATOR: It's another routine morning for the staff
at Orlando's District 9 morgue. But for a group of visiting cadets from the Orlando Police Department,
it's a day they'll never forget. So what I'm doing is taking the chest plate off.
NARRATOR: As part of their training, the group is observing an autopsy for the first time.
You can see there's a large part of his brain missing on this right left side. Is that part of the bullet?
DR. G: Yeah. There's pieces of bullet with soot on it driven way into his brain.
And we still have lost one. But he came back. NARRATOR: When the autopsy is over,
some students are greatly enlightened. Just makes me more prepared to get out there
and do what I need to do. NARRATOR: While others are a bit shaken. WOMAN: The smell is pretty bad.
I figured if I didn't put my hand in front of my face, I definitely would have been sick.
NARRATOR: All agree that one autopsy is enough for one day, but for Dr. G another case awaits.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Less than 24 hours ago, a 39-year-old disabled woman was found dead in broad daylight near her home.
Well, my investigators reporting to me that this woman was found in a park face down in the sand
by three girls. They know who she is. They find her face down and they run off to get an adult.
NARRATOR: According to the report, the police arrived shortly afterward and discover a troubling sight, a young woman lying dead
in the open field of a small public park, over 100 feet from what appears to be her wheelchair.
DR. G: And she's kind of face down in the sand, a little bit of blood on her face.
NARRATOR: Neighbors familiar with the victim tell police that her name is Ginny Ellis,
and that she is quadriplegic. DR. G: See, I've got some records from 2002. Final injury, she had a vertebral repair
about six years ago. Loss of control in her vehicle. NARRATOR: Then police noticed something
disturbing on the ground. DR. G: Uh, some drag marks, some possible hand marks were in the area of the sand.
NARRATOR: The trail leads 148 feet across the park to Ginny's wheelchair, which sits submerged in several inches of sand.
A few yards away they discover a dog leash. The drag marks and the nature of the woman's disability
immediately raise a troubling question. How could a quadriplegic have ended up nearly 150 feet away
from her wheelchair? It really didn't make a lot of sense why she's way in the corner of a park with her wheelchair
stuck in the sand. NARRATOR: However, one fact seems clear so far. Well, if she's truly quadriplegic
she's not crawling. But, uh, how did she get away from her wheelchair if she's-- if she's truly quadriplegic?
A lot of unanswered questions here. NARRATOR: And if Ginny wasn't crawling, someone must have dragged her.
DR. G: And it's suspicious because we have a young woman who couldn't defend herself found,
uh, face down in the sand. And we don't know what really happened to her. NARRATOR: Then as the police are wrapping up
their on-site investigation, a woman rushes to the scene in a panic. Her name is Barbara Ellis, and she identifies
herself as the victim's mother. BARBARA ELLIS: I kind of fell apart. Uh, still couldn't believe it.
They wouldn't-- they wouldn't let me go to her. I couldn't believe what they were saying.
It wasn't sinking in, and she-- she can't be dead. NARRATOR: Ginny's mother informs morgue field investigators
that she was out at an appointment earlier in the day, and that during that time, Ginny probably
took her dog Prince for a walk. Ginny's mother also tells them that when she returned home,
Prince was waiting at the door without Ginny. BARBARA ELLIS: Soon at prince came home,
I should have gone looking for her then. They say no. They say you can't blame yourself, but I do.
NARRATOR: But as questions mount, another disturbing possibility emerges. BARBARA ELLIS: All I could think is that some evil person had
seen what they thought was a helpless girl in a wheelchair and, um, was going to have some fun.
Or did somebody drag her? Did somebody put her face down in the sand? Did somebody beat her?
What's going on here? NARRATOR: Upon finishing the investigators report, Dr. G's mission is clear.
Determine if wheelchair bound Ginny Ellis was the victim of cold blooded murder.
After Ginny's body is weighed and photographed, Dr. G takes her first close look at the outside of the body.
Her priority at this stage is to search for signs indicating that Ginny had been assaulted
and dragged along the ground. DR. G: When I first look at the body, I'm taking with how much sand is still on her.
In her face, in her hair, even in the eye, the conjunctivae of the eye. You look at her nostrils.
They're filled with sand. There's sand in her mouth, deep in her mouth. She's got certainly abrasions down, uh,
the forearm on the elbow. She's got abrasion on the, uh-- the other elbow. She's got a little bit of, uh, some superficial things
on her knee. NARRATOR: To the untrained eye, the sand and injury patterns could suggest that Ginny was dragged across the park,
but Dr. G immediately notices several subtle inconsistencies in the wound patterns.
She's got a lot of dirt on her, on her front, some minor-- more abrasions on her knees, but real bad abrasions on
her elbows, um, on her forearm. NARRATOR: Usually victims who are dragged are held by the arms and sustain scrapes to their backs,
not their knees and elbows. The finding suggests something completely unexpected.
Ginny wasn't dragged by another person. She may in fact have dragged herself away
from the wheelchair under her own power. DR. G: She was probably crawling. She's the one doing the moving, not somebody dragging her.
NARRATOR: But how could a quadriplegic manage to drag herself at all, let alone 148 feet?
I'll talk to her mom and see really what she can do with her arms, if she's ever crawled before.
Boy, it sounds hard to believe, but we'll see. NARRATOR: An investigator calls Ginny's mother who
offers a possible explanation. They really question I guess her, uh, family. She does have some use of her--
one of her arms and maybe a little bit of use of the other arm. NARRATOR: But even if Ginny did manage
to drag herself 148 feet with her one functioning arm, the question is why. What was she trying to crawl to get away from?
NARRATOR: Coming up next, Dr. G discovers what could be Ginny's killer. Lo and behold, when we look at the trachea
and the larynx that's packed with sand, there is no way air can come down. NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
[MUSIC PLAYING] She is another candidate. She's quadriplegic. NARRATOR: Dr. G makes the standard Y incision
on the body of quadriplegic Ginny Ellis, revealing her internal organs. She's got osteoporosis just because of her immobilization.
NARRATOR: Less than 24 hours earlier, police discovered Ginny's lifeless body sprawled face down in a sandy area of a public park.
Her wheelchair was found nearly 150 feet from the body, evidence that she could be the victim of foul play.
DR. G: We don't know what happened to her. Why is she face down in the middle of the park
and her wheelchair's at the other end of the park 148 feet away? NARRATOR: What Dr. G does know from the external exam
is that Ginny's pattern of injury suggests she wasn't dragged. Something caused her to not stay at that wheelchair.
I mean she's trying to crawl so somebody can see her, but she didn't want to stay where her wheelchair got stuck.
NARRATOR: Now Dr. G must not only find out if Ginny was trying to escape an intruder.
She must also explain how a partial quadriplegic could have carried out such a desperate act.
According to those who knew her best, she possessed one personal attribute that could explain
much, an indomitable spirit. Jenny Ellis' inspiring story began six years earlier
when a routine trip to work resulted in a life altering tragedy. She went and got in her car and didn't put her belt on,
thinking that just a couple of miles down the road there was no need. She hit the curb with a tire just the wrong way.
It bounced up off the curb and she lost control, hit a tree and flipped. She was thrown from the car.
NARRATOR: Ginny survived the initial trauma, but the doctor's prognosis was grim.
BARBARA ELLIS: They had told me she won't have any movement in her legs or her arms and will probably
have a problem breathing. NARRATOR: Within months, Ginny was broke and her health insurance depleted,
but Ginny was no ordinary accident victim. BARBARA ELLIS: There's Ginny standing.
NARRATOR: After months of agonizing practice, she regained limited yet crucial use of her right and left arm.
BARBARA ELLIS: She knew that through practice she could do more, and her arm was getting stronger
and she could move her fingers better. And when it first happened she just screamed out to all,
come-- come see. Come see. She said no way. I'm not going to go live in a nursing home.
I'm not going to just lie here and take it. Yeah. I'll learn how to eat. I'll learn how to work.
I'll learn how to move. If that's what I have to do, I'll learn how to do it. And she did.
Her motivation was just phenomenal. NARRATOR: Besides her mother, Ginny's closest companion
became her dog, Prince Valient. BARBARA ELLIS: He would snuggle up in her lap while she was in the wheelchair.
She loved this little puppy, and this little puppy loved her. NARRATOR: It's clear to Dr. G now
that Ginny possessed the physical strength and resolve to drag her body across the Orlando park,
but what motivated the act remains a mystery. She's no weakling, that's for sure.
Maybe her body had given out, but I think she had a very strong spirit. NARRATOR: Dr. G is now ready to examine the internal organs.
We certainly see evidence of old trauma. We see old contusions of the brain, uh, that are now discolored and shrunken, uh, where she had
some significant brain trauma. NARRATOR: But none of these afflictions is life threatening.
Some are the result of her car crash, the remainder from ailments that commonly plague the nation's
118,000 quadriplegics. But when Dr. G examines Ginny's lungs, she discovers an abnormality that
definitely did occur in the moments before her death. Lo and behold, when we cut the bronchus, I see sandy mucus,
and the sandy mucus extends all the way into the deep parts of the lung. I mean she's got sand deep in her lungs.
See, look at her lungs. They're just filled with it. NARRATOR: Dr. G follows the trail of compacted sand
through Ginny's respiratory system. And then when I cut and look at the trachea and the larynx,
that's packed with sand. There is no way air can come down. NARRATOR: Dr. G has found the cause of Ginny Ellis' death.
She suffocated from breathing in a large amount of sand. The finding leaves Dr. G with a daunting question.
I know at that point she suffocated, but I don't know exactly why she's inhaling that sand.
Somebody could be forcing her head down. NARRATOR: To prove Ginny was murdered, Dr. G must find evidence of physical trauma.
So far, the autopsy has revealed none, but there is one last place to look for answers.
Uh, we're never going to know for sure that she doesn't have a trauma until we open up her head
and look in her brain. NARRATOR: It doesn't take long to find answers. I see absolutely nothing wrong so far.
There is no trauma to her skull. And I'm-- look, there's obviously no trauma to the brain that I can see now.
NARRATOR: In short, Dr. G can find no evidence to suggest that Ginny was murdered.
There was really no evidence that she was beaten at all. Um, we've looked completely on her body.
She doesn't have any internal trauma and nothing in her head. And that was the last thing I was waiting for,
to make sure there wasn't hidden trauma in her brain and head. And there isn't any.
NARRATOR: But this discovery only deepens the mystery. If she wasn't assaulted, what would compel Ginny to crawl
50 yards across the park? Unless an additional finding reveals something new, no one may ever know for sure what happened
to Ginny in her final moments. Through the autopsy, we had hoped to find out what happened, how this vibrant young woman,
this-- so full of life. How could she just be dead on a Friday afternoon? [MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Coming up next, Dr. G receives help from outside the morgue that might
crack the case of Ginny Ellis. DR. G: Their spinal cord doctor gave me a call in the morgue to tip me off
that she did have something you only see in spinal cord injured patients. NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
[MUSIC PLAYING] The autopsy of quadriplegic Ginny Ellis is coming to a close as more techs
prepare for their next case. The procedure has revealed that Ginny suffocated in the sand
after crawling 148 feet from her wheelchair. But because Dr. G found no evidence to support foul play,
she may never be able to tell the victim's mother what happened to Ginny, a result that
could leave her family holding a heavy emotional burden. Maybe I could have prevented what had happened.
I don't know. They say no. They say you can't blame yourself, but I do. [MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: But just as Dr. G is about to move on to her next case, she gets a call
from one of Ginny's physicians, a call that will break the case wide open. She had a, uh, doctor who'd heard about her death,
her spinal cord doctor, and gave me a call in the morgue to tip me off that she did have, uh, autonomic dysreflexia.
NARRATOR: Autonomic dysreflexia, a dangerous syndrome that affects the part of the nervous system regulating
the involuntary actions of organs and blood vessels is suffered only by victims of spinal cord injuries.
When a healthy body sustains minor trauma, such as excessive heat or abrasions, distress signals are sent up through the autonomic
nervous system to the brain. Messages are then sent back down telling organs and blood vessels how to respond
proportionately to the injury. But in spinal cord victims like Ginny, crucial messages to and from the brain
are blocked because of the damaged spinal cord, which in turn cause organs and vessels
to overreact to minor trauma. DR. G: And it causes the signal to go up your spinal cord,
but it can't go up the spinal cord past where your lesion is, so it never reaches your brain.
NARRATOR: Unchecked, the condition causes blood pressure to rise and the heart rate to fall,
which can lead to fainting, stroke, or even death. For Ginny, autonomic dysreflexia was
a constant threat, especially when it came to heat. Her body temperature was no--
no longer regulated properly. Her skin would take on whatever the outside temperature was.
If it was warm outside, her whole body would raise up. And it was just something that--
that she learned very early on to be aware of. NARRATOR: Finally, all the pieces of the puzzle
are falling into place. The wheelchair stuck in the sand, a desperate self-imposed journey across the park,
and the autonomic dysreflexia. Ginny, a woman who fiercely embraced life, knew she had to get out of the sun or die trying.
It was probably getting very hot for her. I think she wanted to get in the shade.
Nobody was listening to her yell. She made just that Herculean effort to get into that shade
and to move in an area where somebody saw her. NARRATOR: With all of the pieces of the puzzle in place,
Dr. G can now determine what happened to Ginny on the day of her tragic death. [MUSIC PLAYING]
It's a 93 degree August day and Ginny is walking her dog. In the semi enclosed sun drenched part of the park,
Ginny for reasons unknown leaves the safety of the cement pathway. And somehow her wheelchair got stuck in the sand.
She apparently tried to go forward and back and forward and back. Just kind of dug her wheels deeper into the sand
so that her wheelchair was stuck solid in the sand-- sandy dirt of the park. NARRATOR: After struggling in vain to get back
onto the pavement, Ginny most likely tries to get the attention of anyone in the heavily populated suburban neighborhood,
but there is a problem. DR. G: Florida, a lot of people, uh, stay indoors when it gets that hot.
Probably the air conditioners were running. The windows would be all closed. Ginny had a very strong powerful voice, and knowing Ginny,
she hollered her head off calling for help. But because of the-- the air conditioners,
windows sealed up tight, no one heard her. NARRATOR: After an undetermined period of time
and realizing that the heat will dangerously aggravate her autonomic dysreflexia Ginny makes
a brave and desperate choice. Knowing Ginny and her determination used up probably all her water.
She decided that she would, uh, get help herself. DR. G: But it was probably getting very hot for her.
I think she wanted to get in the shade. Nobody was listening to her yell. I think she thought that she was gonna die either way.
She wanted to take her life in her own hands and try to save herself instead of just dying in the wheelchair
stuck in the corner. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: During Ginny's heroic bid for safety,
she drags her body across the sand, causing abrasions to her knees and elbows. The minor trauma and the excessive heat
trigger her autonomic dysreflexia. Distress signals traveling to and from the brain
are disrupted at her old spinal cord injury, then her organs and blood vessels thinking they are suffering
from severe trauma overreact, causing her heart rate to plummet and her blood pressure
to rise out of control. Somehow she manages to reach the protective shade of a tree,
but it is too late. Her blood pressure is too high and she passes out. DR. G: She collapses suddenly face down in the sand
and starts inhaling the sand. It fills up her windpipe and into her lungs and then she suffocates.
NARRATOR: Sandy mucus begins to build up in Ginny's lungs until she can no longer breathe.
With no one there to help, she dies. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G now has the necessary medical answers
to complete the official autopsy report of Ginny Ellis. But one important question remains.
What led the normally cautious woman to steer her wheelchair from the concrete path where it could get
caught in the treacherous sand? As it turns out, it wasn't carelessness that led to the deadly dilemma.
Most likely it was love and devotion to one of her best friends, her dog Prince Valient.
What I now have come to understand is that perhaps Prince had gotten loose from her
and had run into the park. DR. G: And it appears that she probably was chasing the dog.
There'd be no other reason for her to be back there. NARRATOR: But when she couldn't get Prince to come to her,
she decided to go after him. She doesn't trap her dog, but her-- her wheelchair gets trapped in the sand and she can't get out.
NARRATOR: When the final autopsy results come in, they bring some comfort to Ginny's mother.
BARBARA ELLIS: When Dr. G gave me the autopsy results, the reasons for Ginny's death, she made it
a point that I understood that Jenny didn't suffer, that it was a-- a peaceful death.
There wasn't any struggle. There wasn't any contortions in her face. I was relieved that her last moments
weren't of a violent nature, no violent end. It's become very important for me to know this
because I have a tendency, even now I'm of guilt, why-- why didn't I go out looking earlier?
Why didn't I find her? Why wasn't I there sooner? [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Coming up next, could a run of the mill infection
turn into this? It's nasty looking. It's so bad you can just squeeze the puss out
of the layers of the muscle. NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh my god. WOMAN: I know. NARRATOR: For thousands of morgue professionals throughout the nation, the grisly business
of death and autopsy procedure is simply business as usual. It's just like liquid butter.
WOMAN: That is just less than a while. DR. G: Less than a while is right. NARRATOR: Heart attacks, embolisms, homicides
and accidents rarely raise an eyebrow, but occasionally a seemingly routine case comes along
that can by the end of an autopsy surprise even the most experienced professional,
such as the case of this 50-year-old Victor Baca, a man who died while being rushed to an Orlando
hospital 24 hours ago. [MUSIC PLAYING] The morgue investigators report tells a tragic
yet all too common story. According to the victim's family, Victor was in relatively good health until three days ago
when suddenly something went wrong. DR. G: But he's been complaining of back pain,
shoulder pain and some throat pain, and he hasn't been going to work. And then he finally says, you know,
I really need to see somebody. Family was gonna take him to go see somebody and he collapses.
NARRATOR: Victor's son immediately calls 911 and an ambulance rushes him to a nearby hospital.
But they are too late. Victor is pronounced dead on arrival. No one from EMS or the hospital can
offer the family an explanation as to what caused Victor's sudden death. They're not gonna start running tests on a dead man.
But once they stop coding you and they pronounce you dead, that's our jurisdiction.
They can't go any further. So we'll-- we'll Polaroid that. Maybe it'll be easier for the family to look at that.
[CLICKING OF CAMERA] As Dr. G finishes reading through the report, she discovers something significant
in Victor's medical history. We also, uh, got some information that he was diabetic and he is poorly controlled.
He takes insulin. He doesn't take very good care of himself. NARRATOR: But because Victor died suddenly while suffering
from back and shoulder pain, symptoms not typically associated with diabetes, she suspects another deadly disease
often caused by diabetes. People who are diabetic have a marked increased incidence of atherosclerotic disease,
plaque buildup in their heart. NARRATOR: One out of every five deaths in the US is attributed to heart attacks, making
it America's number one killer. So there's a real good chance this could just be a routine heart attack.
[MUSIC PLAYING] But he looks otherwise healthy guy. I don't know. We'll have to see, and then we'll get--
get Sandy to show me his back here. NARRATOR: When Dr. G gets her first look at the outside of the body, everything seems normal.
He's got very symmetrical legs. Really there's not much on him. NARRATOR: Until she notices something on Victor's neck.
He's got some slight greening discoloration. It looks like-- like almost early decomp
right under the skin here. NARRATOR: Green skin is typically associated with decomposition, which strikes Dr. G as odd.
What's really interesting here is that we supposedly got him fresh from the emergency room.
But typically where we first start seeing greening discoloration, it's basically the-- the early decompositional
changes. NARRATOR: Could this mysterious abnormality have anything to do with Dr. G's heart attack theory?
Finding an explanation will have to wait until Dr. G can look inside his body. He's not using the standard Dr. G clippers.
NARRATOR: Once Dr. G performs the Y incision, she can start examining Victor's internal organs.
Highest on our list is-- is gonna be heart. NARRATOR: But when she opens the rib cage,
she discovers something startling. I see a lot of infection in the-- what we call
the anterior mediastinum, which is the space underneath your breastbone. We're ready, right?
WOMAN: We're ready to go. NARRATOR: The troubling findings suggest that Victor had
a terrible infection teeming inside his body at the time of his death. But as she examines the immediate chest area,
she cannot detect its source. For the time being, Dr. G decided to focus on the organ she still believes
to be the most likely killer. Guess we're gonna go for the heart I think. what is it?
500 and, uh-- WOMAN: No. 620. - Oh. 600. Woo. That's big. NARRATOR: When she dissects the coronary arteries,
the main vessels supplying blood to the heart, she makes a grim yet not unexpected discovery.
His heart was really bad. It was bad enough that it could have killed him at any time.
He had-- one of his coronary arteries were 100% occluded. Another's 80%, another's 75%.
NARRATOR: Only 15 minutes into the autopsy, all the pieces seem to fit. A diabetic man complaining of shoulder and back pains
die suddenly and unexpectedly. His heart is hopelessly diseased. Victor Baca has apparently succumb to America's most
common killer. For some forensic pathologists, a clear finding like this effectively closes a case,
but for Dr. G something isn't adding up. We certainly have a hypothesis on this case.
Very bad coronary artery disease, but then here I've got this greening discoloration plus a history of a sore throat
and an infection. There was an infection in his chest-- in the mid portion of his chest.
NARRATOR: Could a common sore throat have anything to do with Victor Baca's death?
Coming up next, Dr. G discovers something she's rarely seen in 20 years of practicing forensic pathology.
It's nasty looking. You could just touch it and-- and express the pus coming out.
NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. G continues the dissection of Victor Baca's
diseased heart, taking sections for later evaluation under a microscope. The 50-year-old died less than 24 hours earlier,
after complaining of severe back and shoulder pain and a bad sore throat. The discovery of blocked coronary arteries, one of which
was 100% occluded, suggests that he succumbed to a sudden heart attack. Inclusion by the heart is that heart is bad enough
to have caused his death. NARRATOR: But questions remain about several large findings
made earlier in the autopsy. DR. G: We have this greening discoloration of the neck,
which is a little bit suspicious and he got an anterior mediastinitis, which is an infection
of the part of the mediastinum, which is the mid portion of the chest. It's very calcified.
NARRATOR: As Dr. G is wrapping up the heart dissection, something grabs her attention.
While examining heart tissue that is normally nourished by the blocked coronary artery, she
notices that it is not damaged or dead, as it should be in a place where no blood was flowing.
She knows this could only mean one thing. What happens when you get 100% occluded is
your body makes what's called collaterals or smaller blood vessels get-- grow to compensate sometimes for that.
NARRATOR: Collaterals are one of the heart's most ingenious defense mechanisms. When a coronary artery becomes completely blocked over time,
tiny blood vessels grow, bypassing the artery and allowing life giving blood to flow around the clot
and into the heart. So even in and of itself, just one coronary artery with 100%
won't necessarily kill you because your body can compensate for that somewhat. NARRATOR: The finding changes everything.
Since Victor's heart was likely functioning with the help of collaterals, it now appears that something
other than a heart attack might have killed him after all. And Dr. G has a hunch where to look next.
But I couldn't wait to open him up and figure out what was going on in his neck.
NARRATOR: Dr. G starts by we examining the infection she discovered earlier under Victor's chest plate.
It's nasty looking. It's gone, uh, into the mediastinum, which is the front inside part of the chest.
Uh, it-- it's so bad you can just squeeze the puss out of the layers of the muscle.
NARRATOR: The fetid infection seems to lead directly to Victor's neck, the same area that
showed signs of green discoloring in the external exam. It appears to be going right up to his jaw.
It's around his, uh, submandibular gland. The-- the parotid gland looks OK. But, uh, this infection appears to be going right to the jaw.
So he basically putting it together had an abscess of his jaw. NARRATOR: It is now clear that in addition to severe heart
problems, Victor suffered from an extremely dangerous type of infection that began as an abscess,
a cavity containing pus surrounded by inflamed tissue. The combination of the abscess and mediastinitis
is also something that Dr. G rarely if ever sees. And she still has no idea how Victor could have developed
such an unusual condition. I've never seen this before. NARRATOR: Coming up next, Dr. G calls
on an infectious disease specialist to try to figure out what killed Victor Baca.
Our mouths are full of all kinds of different bacteria. It's only when they gain access to places they shouldn't
be that they result in death. NARRATOR: When "Dr. G Medical Examiner" continues.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Dr. Mark Wallace, an infectious disease specialist looks over Dr. G's unusual findings
in the perplexing case of Victor Baca. So Dr. G called me about this case because he was very unusual, and, uh, she often calls me
about interesting infections. NARRATOR: In autopsy, Dr. G has just discovered that in addition to severe heart disease,
Victor's body was teeming with virulent infections in his jaw and chest. He had an infection that started in his jaw that then
dissected down into the layers of his neck and actually went into the chest cavity
and the anterior mediastinum right under the breast bone. NARRATOR: Now after examining all of Dr. G's findings,
Dr. Wallace is ready to weigh in. Infections of the, um, uh, face and the head and neck, uh, can progress
down into the mediastinum. NARRATOR: Dr. Wallace and Dr. G both believe all the evidence
proves conclusively that a bacterial infection originated in Victor's mouth, shockingly from the most
ordinary of health problems. MARK WALLACE: Some of these infections might arise from the-- a tooth infection or an abscess.
Our mouths are full of all kinds of different bacteria. And so it's only when they, uh, gain access to places
they shouldn't be, sterile sites off in the jaw and the neck, that they cause these sorts of problems.
NARRATOR: In other words, a common tooth infection probably migrated into the surrounding bone
and tissue, causing an abscess. By the time Victor sought medical attention, bacteria had literally begun to poison his entire system.
DR. G: He definitely died of an infection that spread from his mandible down his neck
and into the mediastinum and into his blood. NARRATOR: But there's one problem with their theory.
In the modern era it's very unusual to see a mediastinal infection that starts in the-- in the-- in the face
or the neck. NARRATOR: And there's a simple reason why. People have a lot of symptoms from these.
They have considerable pain and usually fevers and chills and so on, and they seek medical care quickly.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Victor simply refused to acknowledge that he was sick?
Dr. G believes she knows the answer and can now replay the series of events that led to Victor
Baca's unusual demise. Weeks before his death, Victor notices a pain in his left jaw,
most likely the result of a bad toothache. The pain increases, but inexplicably he decides
to avoid medical attention. Meanwhile, inside his heart, one of his coronary arteries
is 100% blocked due in part to his diabetes. Remarkably, thanks to the growth of collaterals,
tiny defensive capillaries that carry blood around the blockage, this does not kill him.
Instead a large abscess forms in his jaw and begins to spread. These organisms gained entrance to his jaw bone
and then caused a worsening infection which progressed down through the neck into the chest.
This had to be painful. This was eating away at his tissue. NARRATOR: Even as the infection spreads to his chest
and the pain becomes unbearable, Victor continues to refuse medical attention. MARK WALLACE: Usually people would have a pretty dramatic
swelling and redness and tenderness, or difficulty swallowing, high spiking fever.
DR. G: It then spread to the neck and around the glands out of the jaw, and that pus dissected in between the layers of the neck
and between the fascial planes and up even going into his mediastinitis, and I'm sure eventually into his blood.
NARRATOR: Victor eventually succumbs to the infection and passes out. This man needed to be on antibiotics.
I mean it's a weird, weird complication. NARRATOR: His final decline is so rapid that when paramedics
arrive it is too late. What began as a run of the mill oral infection has become a fight for survival.
This is a sore throat from hell. NARRATOR: As the unchecked infection takes its course,
it enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout his body. Eventually Victor's organs cease functioning.
He never makes it to the hospital. The tragedy is compounded by the fact that Victor's death could have easily been prevented.
In the pre-antibiotic era, this would be a very severe likely fatal, uh, disease.
Physicians in the modern era are quick to give antibiotics for, uh, suspected infections of the face or-- or, uh, neck.
So, um, there's not much chance for these severe infections to develop, and the appropriate surgery and/or
antibiotics are provided in a timely manner and people do well. [MUSIC PLAYING] DR. G: Unfortunately after doing this for 18 years,
I see how people neglect their bodies. I see how people take terrible care of themselves.
I see how people drive too fast and die from accidents. I see how people do stupid things and die.
All their choices. So no, I don't get frustrated anymore. Not going to a doctor because you have a sore throat
is your choice. But if it gets bad enough, I'll see you. [MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) You can call me any time you're feeling lonely.
I never wanted [INAUDIBLE].

A quadriplegic woman loved by her community is found dead in an Orlando park 150ft from her motorized wheelchair. Children find her lifeless body face down in the sand.

A Florida medical examiner takes viewers through puzzling cases while explaining procedures and conclusions.

Brief Summary

Dr. G investigates the deaths of Ginny Ellis and Victor Baca, revealing tragic circumstances and preventable medical issues.

Key points

Tragic Discovery in the Park. A disabled woman is found dead in a public park, raising questions of foul play.
A Mother's Heartbreak. Ginny's mother struggles to cope with her daughter's tragic death.
Autopsy Reveals Shocking Truth. Dr. G uncovers the cause of death: suffocation from inhaling sand.
A Mother's Relief. Barbara Ellis finds comfort in knowing her daughter didn't suffer during her death.
A Shocking Discovery. Dr. G uncovers a severe infection in Victor Baca's chest, complicating the case.
The Unusual Infection. Dr. G and Dr. Wallace determine that a common tooth infection led to Victor's death.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She can't fight back very easily.

Describing the victim's vulnerability.

0:24WatchJun 1, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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