Dr. G: Medical Examiner - Season 6, Episode 8 - Hidden Killers - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: When a teenage boy goes to the hospital
with back pain and dies less than 48 hours later, his family is shocked. It was like a whirlwind.
We-- I mean, after everything we were in a daze like, what just happened? NARRATOR: Now it's up to Dr. G to explain his sudden death.
I am sure the family is devastated, and I am sure the family wants answers. And I'm hoping to give them some.
NARRATOR: Then-- Leesa! NARRATOR: --when a woman finds her sister dead on the couch,
all signs point to foul play. DR. G: Her door's unlocked. She's covered with blood.
That's suspicious at face value. NARRATOR: And police are counting on Dr. G to find proof of murder.
We have to treat it as a homicide till we prove otherwise. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Altered lives, baffling medical mysteries,
shocking revelations-- these are the everyday cases of Dr. G medical examiner. BRIAN MACHULSKI: I'm kind of divided about my job.
The first thing I always remember is that I'm here because of other people's tragedy.
On the other hand, I find my job very fascinating. And I never get bored because every day coming in here
is an adventure because you never know what's waiting or what's in store. NARRATOR: And today, a case comes into the morgue that puts
Dr. G and her team to the test. Sometimes it's the autopsy that's so fascinating.
In this case, it's really what happened after the autopsy. This has bigger implications than for just this family.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: It's 7:00 AM on Monday, September 29, 2008. Good morning.
Good morning. Good morning. NARRATOR: And the District Nine morgue in Orlando, Florida,
has just received a body from a nearby hospital. We have an 18-year-old African-American
male that just last Friday was a linebacker for his high school. And now he's dead.
Trained six days a week, no smoking, no drinking. The hospital calls us up because it
was such a sudden death. They don't know what's wrong with him. So of course we accepted the case.
[MUSIC PLAYING] DR. G: Let's see. NARRATOR: Dr. G begins by reading through the case
file of 18-year-old Alonzo Smith, a high school senior and star football player.
KIMBERLY SMITH: He was a pretty good kid, didn't really get in trouble. He was healthy, happy, no complaints.
ALONZO SMITH SR.: He was looking forward to going to college on scholarship. A lot of doors were opening.
NARRATOR: Reading through the investigator's report, Dr. G hones in on the details of Alonzo's
sudden and tragic death. DR. G: He went to practice on Thursday but didn't show up on Friday.
He called in sick to school, couldn't go to the football game. Mom. KIMBERLY SMITH: Alonzo said his back was bothering him.
I told him to stay home and see if the back pain would ease up. [SIGHS] NARRATOR: But the pain doesn't ease up.
In fact, it soon becomes so severe that Alonzo's mother decides to take him into the emergency room.
DR. G: They take an X-ray, but they don't really see any reason for his back pain.
They decide it's a back spasm, so they give him a shot of an anti-inflammatory drug
and goes home to rest. NARRATOR: But within just a few hours, Alonzo develops some alarming new symptoms.
DR. G: He's got a rash. He's having difficulty breathing. His mom's worried, so she takes him back to the emergency room.
They realize he's got a fever now, and they're working him up for a possible infection.
NARRATOR: ER doctors now believe that whatever infection Alonzo contracted has progressed
into full-blown sepsis. Sepsis is basically your body responding to severe infection.
That sets off a cascade of chemicals. That starts causing your white blood cells to go up,
your respiratory rate to go up. Your blood pressure starts going down, and you start having organ failure.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] They put him in the ICU, but he has a rapid downhill course.
[ALARM] NARRATOR: To the entire family's shock, less than 48 hours after his first symptom, the unthinkable happens.
KIMBERLY SMITH: We were in the waiting room, and they called a code blue. They never said the room number.
They never said a name. In my heart, I knew it was Alonzo. DR. G: There were not able to save him.
He codes and dies. If you can imagine, you know, the family is shocked. In less than a couple-day period,
they have a perfectly healthy football player to a dead son. And nobody can give them an answer.
It's our job, then, to figure out what happened. They don't have a diagnosis. Let's see what they did to him.
NARRATOR: Dr. G scours the medical reports from the hospital searching for any clues
that might provide insight into the teenager's mysterious death. DR. G: I agree with his clinicians.
It looks like an infection, but we don't know for sure what the infection is. NARRATOR: Given Alonzo's symptoms of high fever
and shortness of breath, the ER doctors believe he may have developed pneumonia, a potentially
deadly infection of the lungs. They've done blood cultures. They've done a workup.
But nothing came back positive yet. It could also be meningitis, an infection of his brain linings.
NARRATOR: Meningococcal meningitis is a notoriously lethal and contagious infection, commonly striking young people
around Alonzo's age. DR. G: That would have public-health implications for the people who had any contact with him.
Is it something that's going to be a public-health risk, or is it not? NARRATOR: But she must also consider
that despite Alonzo's symptoms, he may have died of something else altogether. DR. G: Maybe he had a pseudosepsis syndrome-- looks
like sepsis, but it isn't. NARRATOR: One condition that can mimic the symptoms of sepsis
is massive blood loss. With Alonzo's rigorous football schedule, it's possible he unknowingly suffered an injury that caused
a serious internal bleed. DR. G: Maybe he's ruptured a spleen. It's maybe an injury to his pancreas.
But although it could be, I doubt it. We'll see when we get in there. I have to look at everything.
That's what I do with an autopsy. OK. You know, weird things happen. Weird things come through my office,
and that's why I do a complete autopsy. Okeydokey, let's go for it. NARRATOR: As always, Dr. G begins the autopsy
with an external exam. And it doesn't take long to zero in on her first unmistakable clue.
I can still see his rash. It was on his face, and his shoulders, his neck, even on his extremities and chest.
It's a red almost sunburn type of a rash. I'd never really seen a rash quite like this.
All right. NARRATOR: She documents the unusual rash and continues searching his body for anything
that might shed light on the 18-year-old's mysterious death. The only thing I found was an abrasion,
abrasion near his elbow. That's a very non-specific finding. I mean, football players, they're
constantly hitting each other, and they braid the skin. Yeah, I think that's it.
So the external didn't really give me a lot more clues than I had. We need to look internally.
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, just a few miles away, Alonzo's family members are beside themselves
with grief and confusion. Their only hope now is for Dr. G to provide some much needed answers.
It's really, really, really devastating. Never in my wildest dream I thought he was going to die.
NARRATOR: And for Dr. G, this case hits especially close to home. I had this-- a son almost the exact same age.
And so you always run through your mind that this could be your son. But I have tragedies every day come through my morgue.
And although I can relate to this mom, my job is to get the answers for them. [MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING] OK. NARRATOR: Dr. G is on the hunt for the cause of death in the mysterious case of Alonzo Smith,
a well-liked and talented 18-year-old from Kissimmee, Florida. KIMBERLY SMITH: It was like a whirlwind.
We-- I mean, after everything, we were in a daze like, what just happened? DR. G: I am sure the family is devastated,
and I'm sure the family wants answers, and I'm hoping to give them some. NARRATOR: At this point, Dr. G suspects
that Alonso may have fallen victim to a deadly infection. DR. G: If it truly is something infectious
and he died in such a fast manner, this might have public-health implications. So I need to look internally and see what's there.
I think we better-- why don't we put masks on since I don't know why he's died from?
NARRATOR: But before Dr. G begins, she and her staff must protect themselves. Alonzo's body, even postmortem, might be contagious.
You ready? When I start, I open up his head. I remove his scalp. I open up his calvarium to look at his brain
to look for meningitis. But his meninges didn't have that cloudy kind of [INAUDIBLE] look.
He doesn't look infected. They looked clear, but I've been fooled before. We're not going to take any chances.
We'll take a microbe and a culture. I will still culture it because it may show evidence
of meningococcal meningitis. But at this point, eh, its chances are no. That should be enough.
NARRATOR: Still no closer to a cause of death, Dr. G has no choice but to dig deeper inside Alonzo's
body for answers. Is there anything that could tell me what's going on with this guy?
Could you get me a sterile scalpel? NARRATOR: Dr. G opens the body with a standard Y incision.
Her first step will be to check for a fatal internal bleed. Blood loss can look like a pseudosepsis.
Something that was mimicking an infection. So I've opened up his body cavity, but I don't see blood accumulation.
Nothing abnormal. It really sounds like he's got a very rapidly developing infection.
The question is, where did it start? NARRATOR: Doctors in the hospital believe that Alonzo may have contracted pneumonia.
So Dr. G's next stop is the lungs. We remove his lungs. I weigh the lungs. They're incredibly heavy.
They're incredibly dense. Heavy lungs. I'm thinking maybe it is a pneumonia. NARRATOR: Carefully, she slices through the tissue
searching for characteristic inflammation, fluid, or pus. DR. G: When I sectioned his lungs, though,
it does not look like an ammonia. It looks good unfortunately. All that fluid that's built up in the lungs,
it was really a result of that sepsis. NARRATOR: All signs still point to an infection,
but Dr. G can't be certain without the results from toxicology. DR. G: Hopefully by the end of the autopsy,
we'll have some results from the blood cultures they took at the hospital. NARRATOR: As she nears the end of the internal exam,
Dr. G is still puzzled as to what could have killed Alonzo so suddenly. But based on his symptoms of back pain,
there's still one more place she needs to look. We're going to have to flip him.
I'm going to be looking at his back. Is there an infection going on there? I don't see anything.
But his muscles look normal. I don't see a cause for the infection-- nothing. Huh.
I really need to know what those blood cultures are showing. NARRATOR: Unfortunately, the lingering uncertainty
continues to weigh on the minds of Alonzo's friends and family. Your mind can't be--
you know, you just can't rest. We were still grieving. DR. G: It's difficult for a family to grasp sudden death
when they don't know what caused it. At least you got to put your mind around what happened.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Dr. G has completed the autopsy on 18-year-old Alonzo Smith, but so far she's
found nothing to conclusively explain the baffling death to his family. You know, dealing with families,
I see it as actually the best part of my job, because what an autopsy is ultimately for is the living.
Now I can take this thing off. Now, it could be an infection. That's probably the most likely explanation,
but we don't really know what's going on with him. I'll have to ask my infectious disease consultant.
NARRATOR: But the specialist Dr. G turns to is not your ordinary morgue consultant.
Oh, I've got a good infectious disease case for you. I have a resident in-house infectious disease consultant.
And when I mean in-house, I mean in-house. I mean, he lives with me-- my husband.
This is an interesting case. MARK WALLACE: This was a very interesting case to work together with Dr. G. We talked about how
this guy had died of sepsis, and it wasn't clear how that happened. All right. I'm hoping that the blood cultures are going to give me
the type of bug it is so I can at least kind of help the family understand what's happened.
I immediately call the hospital to see if we have any blood culture results. They put me to the microbe lab.
And sure enough, we have a result. Turn the light off. NARRATOR: With these findings in hand,
Dr. G is finally able to piece together exactly what happened to Alonzo Smith in the days
leading up to his untimely death. DR. G: This does have public-health implications.
I'm a little bit concerned. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Sometime in September 2008,
Alonzo is roughing it up at football practice when he gets a small scrape on his left elbow.
It is then that Dr. G believes that a deadly bacterium finds its way into the opening in his skin.
DR. G: Little cuts allow that bacteria to go in. That's a port of entry. NARRATOR: The hospital cultures revealed that the bacterium is
community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. MRSA is just Staph aureus, this common bacteria that
causes a lot of infections, which is resistant to a common family of antibiotics.
NARRATOR: On Friday, September 26, the MRSA infection takes hold inside Alonzo's body,
and he calls out sick from school. DR. G: Probably what's happened is, he did hurt his muscle.
He strained his muscle in his back. And the bacteria settled there when it went through his blood,
causing a backache. NARRATOR: If the infection was detected early enough, it could have been treated with a special kind of antibiotic.
But unfortunately for Alonzo, no clear evidence of an infection is found during his first visit to the ER.
DR. G: He is a football player, and he has a back pain. He really wasn't giving any symptoms of being sick.
NARRATOR: By the next morning, the infection has spread to his bloodstream, triggering a life-threatening
condition called sepsis. That sets off a cascade of chemicals. That rash, those are from toxins being
produced by that bacteria. The increased respiratory rate, that's from fluid leaking out into his lungs.
His heart rate goes up. His temperature goes up. NARRATOR: By the time he's readmitted to the hospital,
the infection is too far advanced, and Alonzo takes a dramatic turn for the worse.
He quickly went downhill. [ALARM] NARRATOR: In the ICU, the 18-year-old struggles to hang on.
But his heartbeat slows and eventually stops. DR. G: They try to get it back, but it's too late.
NARRATOR: Finally, Dr. G is able to share her findings with Alonzo's parents. ALONZO SMITH SR.: She gave us the only answers we have.
That's the only piece we had, really. Yeah. DR. G: You know, I think they were appreciative of an answer,
but the family was very upset. They didn't understand, how could their son have gotten this?
He probably picked it up working out in the gym. Once you have a portal of entry, you
can pick it up from surfaces. You can pick it up from somebody that has it on their hands.
About 20% to 30% of the people on the planet are colonized with Staph aureus. That means, it's on or in their body,
but it's not causing disease. But once MRSA has reached the level where it causes bloodstream infection,
then it's very serious. Yeah, this is Dr. Garavaglia. NARRATOR: Dr. G he immediately alerted the Osceola
County Health Department. DR. G: We have a star football player, 18 years old, in the prime of his life, dying from MRSA.
And it's well known that that can spread throughout the team. We need to make sure that the other players
are taken care of. Say, what time is the press conference? Starting in 10 minutes.
So I wanted to see what the mayor is-- what the mayor's doing. I bet it'll be the lead story of the noon news.
They had to have a town-hall meeting at the school where the health department came in to talk about MRSA.
NARRATOR: Immediately following the meeting, each player on the team is sent to the doctor to be tested.
Sure enough, some of his teammates ended up with MRSA. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: But then for the Smith family,
tragedy threatens to strike again. Alonzo's brother Darius comes back positive for an infection
as well. KIMBERLY SMITH: It was crazy. It was just crazy. We didn't want to lose another kid, you know?
We just can't go through this. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: In October 2008, the Smiths
are terrified to learn that just one month after losing their son Alonzo to a fatal MRSA infection,
his brother Darius has come down with a similar and potentially deadly strain of Staph.
KIMBERLY SMITH: You know, with the passing of Alonzo, I was-- was concerned, really worried.
NARRATOR: Concerned that the infection could once again turn fatal, doctors immediately begin treatment
on everyone who's tested positive for the bacteria. That must have been a true scare for them.
NARRATOR: But fortunately, with early intervention and the use of antibiotics, Darius and the other teammates
recover. ALONZO SMITH SR.: We were relieved when they started giving him treatment.
I was relieved it wasn't too late. DR. G: Not everyone dies that gets MRSA. We don't know why some people die from it
and it gets into their blood and some people it's just confined to their skin. What's thought, though, is that you
have bad luck, that you get a bug that's just more virulent than others. I think the things to really realize
here is that MRSA in the community is a serious problem, and the best way to fight it is handwashing,
not sharing towels, and disinfecting things that are touched by many people. NARRATOR: For Alonzo's family, it's a tragic lesson learned.
But in the end, their son's passing has also changed their outlook on life. Life is short, so enjoy life.
Enjoy your family. Love your kids. DARIUS BENTLEY: My last memory with Alonzo was at the hospital.
I told him I loved him. He told me he love-- loved me back. DR. G: This job teaches you to be so grateful because you do
see people that you can relate to that are now dead and taken away from their loved ones.
It always hits you. [MUSIC PLAYING] [DRAMATIC MUSIC] He's got little freckles. That's sad.
NARRATOR: Every day, Dr. G you must put aside her emotions to get to the bottom of how someone died.
All right, let's go see what's going on over here. NARRATOR: But when a possible homicide
comes into the morgue-- Oh my god. NARRATOR: --she is put to the test. There's no rhyme or reason to this world sometimes.
I don't understand the senseless killing. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: It's a bright sunny spring afternoon in Kissimmee,
Florida, when Marie Allen stops by to visit her 49-year-old sister, Leesa. But something doesn't seem right.
Leesa? What is disturbing is that the door is not locked. Leesa! NARRATOR: And as Marie turns the corner into the living room,
she gets the shock of her life. DR. G: Their sister is sitting on the couch with blood
all over her. NARRATOR: Frantic, Marie calls 911, and emergency personnel are on the scene within minutes.
But it's too late. She's dead. NARRATOR: As the police secure the area, Dr. G's medical investigators are
called in to assess the scene. But as they turn their attention to Leesa's body,
it doesn't take long to locate the source of the blood. DR. G: She's clearly got some type of wound to the head,
and they find a little clump of hair and blood on the edge of the fireplace hearth.
NARRATOR: The circumstances of Leesa's death lead Dr. G to believe that this might not be an accident.
DR. G: Her door's unlocked. She's covered with blood. That's suspicious at face value.
We have to treat it as a homicide until we prove otherwise. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: The body of 49-year-old Leesa Allen, who
was found dead on her couch covered in blood, has just arrived at the District Nine morgue.
And at this stage, foul play tops Dr. G's list of suspects. DR. G: She clearly has some type of wound to her head.
Maybe there's an altercation going on-- [SCREAMS] --and she was slammed down there.
NARRATOR: The question is, who would want this seemingly harmless unemployed waitress dead?
So the police are waiting to see if I call this a homicide. NARRATOR: But over two decades of experience
tell Dr. G it's far too early to say for sure. We have to keep all options open.
She could have collapsed from natural disease. She could have been drinking and she fell.
We don't know. Right now it's all speculation. So there's a lot of possibilities here.
[MUSIC PLAYING] OK. Oh gosh, she's a mess. I'm shocked. I'm really shocked at the way she looked.
Wow. She's not looking good. She does have a tremendous amount of blood on her. Oh, her head's not good.
NARRATOR: One look at Leesa and it's obvious she suffered a severe head wound. DR. G: It goes through the ear.
The cartilage is actually torn. Look at that. It just tore right-- it scalped her.
It's consistent with her-- [SCREAM] --falling-- [SCREAMS] --or being thrown down against that fireplace edge.
Oh, that's bad. NARRATOR: But Dr. G won't know if the injury was fatal until she completes a full cranial exam.
In the meantime, she begins by collecting any trace evidence that could point to a suspect
in a potential homicide. First things first, I'll look for stray hairs or fibers
that don't make sense. And I will swab her hands for DNA evidence. NARRATOR: After a thorough exam, Tom Hemphill
begins the gruesome task of undressing and washing Leesa's blood-caked body. DR. G: And once you clean her up, it's even more disturbing.
She got some little bruises-- bruised shoulder, bruised arm. That is worrisome. She's got a lot of them.
NARRATOR: At first, Dr. G wonders if the bruises could be the result of a deadly beating.
But as she examines the pattern of bruising more closely, she begins to question this theory.
DR. G: Some of her bruises clearly look fresh, but some of her bruises look several days old.
And she has bruising on both of her arms, and the knees, and on her thigh, but not to the top of the head.
Very little on her abdomen, and hardly anything on her chest. So what that tells me is, it's probably not an acute assault.
It really looks more like multiple falls over time. Let me put a couple of notes on this lady so I don't forget.
So foul play really went down on my list. NARRATOR: Still, Dr. G can't rule out homicide entirely until she completes the autopsy.
We need to know what's going on on the inside. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Dr. G begins by making a Y
incision down Leesa's torso. DR. G: Once I take that chest plate off, I notice that she's got terrible rib fractures.
Look at that. Whoa. See over here? These are fractures. NARRATOR: Now Dr. G wonders if some sort of foul play
could be back on the table after all. DR. G: Is that all the trauma she has? I don't know what really is going on with this woman yet.
You want to get the tox? NARRATOR: Her next step is to draw samples of Leesa's blood,
urine, and eye fluids to send to the forensic lab for analysis. I've got enough for a gray.
NARRATOR: But it will be weeks before Dr. G can expect an answer from the toxicology report.
For now, she pushes on with the autopsy, on the lookout for signs of suspicious trauma
or natural disease. OK, so her heart looks good. Nice lungs-- they're beautiful.
NARRATOR: But there are no abnormalities at all-- that is, until she works her way down to the abdominal organs.
DR. G: Oh, look at that liver. Her liver is very big for her body. She clearly has an enlarged, fatty liver.
In our society, we see big fatty livers for a couple of reasons. Number one is alcohol use.
Number two is obesity. She sure isn't obese. NARRATOR: This leads Dr. G to believe
that Leesa's fatty liver was in fact caused by alcohol abuse. It may have played a role but probably not enough
to cause her death. Let's see what we have here. NARRATOR: But as she examines the surrounding organs
and tissue more closely, she notices something else highly unusual. Kind of pale.
Her organs are all extremely pale. Very pale organs-- my, my, my. NARRATOR: This tells Dr. G that Leesa lost
a dangerous amount of blood. That's very unusual unless you have massive trauma like a gunshot wound or a car accident.
NARRATOR: What's strange, however, is that Leesa's only bleeding wound appears to be the gash on her head.
So why is she bleeding so much? NARRATOR: Dr. G now believes that something may have been preventing Leesa's blood from properly clotting.
In a healthy body, when a wound begins to bleed, the blood will normally coagulate or clot by itself,
trying to stop the flow. But in Leesa's case, the process appears to have gone haywire.
DR. G: Why did her body not try to coagulate that blood? NARRATOR: One reason could be a cancer
like leukemia, which can interfere with the body's ability to clot blood. Dr. G immediately orders microscopic
slides to look for cancer. I don't know what's going on with her until I can look under the microscope.
I'll be back. NARRATOR: But she still can't discount the possibility that Leesa simply died as a result
of her massive blood loss. She has lost a considerable amount of blood. But is it enough to kill her?
I don't know. I would have to rule out everything else before I can say that it's just the blood loss.
NARRATOR: And the autopsy is far from over. Dr. G must still examining Leesa's brain.
DR. G: Is there something in her head that's going to trump it? Oh my god. Look at that.
Bottom line is, we need to figure out what happened to her. [MUSIC PLAYING] Someday I'm going to find what I'm looking for.
NARRATOR: Dr. G is about to perform a cranial exam on 49-year-old Leesa Allen, who died at home
under suspicious circumstances. DR. G: So I'm shaving her head to try to expose this wound.
The brain may really have the answer for us. One thing I want to look for is a stroke.
We're certainly going to look for trauma bleeding around the brain from the fall.
OK. And we'll look for any kind of degenerative disease that may have played a role in her falling.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Go for it. I'll step away from the. NARRATOR: Using an oscillating saw,
morgue technician Tom Hemphill carefully opens Leesa's skull. Head's ready for you, doctor.
NARRATOR: But when Dr. G steps in to examine the brain, she's stunned by what she sees.
There is no trauma to the brain. No, there's nothing really there. So we know that this isn't a homicide, but--
Oh my gosh. --there's something clearly wrong. Her brain is shrunken. Look at that.
She's lost a lot of the middle portion of her cerebellar hemisphere. NARRATOR: The cerebellar hemispheres
located in the back of the brain are responsible for important motor functions, such as walking, coordination, and balance.
She has cerebellar atrophy. NARRATOR: In other words, part of Leesa's brain has severely atrophied or wasted away,
making it difficult for her to control her body's movements. She doesn't have enough atrophy to kill her,
but that would clearly cause her to fall a lot. [SCREAMS] [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Common causes of cerebellum atrophy
include strokes, infections, and neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
But in Leesa's case, Dr. G has another suspect in mind. Particularly, the middle lobe is atrophic, shrunken.
That's pretty telltale for one thing. I think I know where this is going. NARRATOR: However, to fully make sense of the case,
Dr. G will need to examine the results of Leesa's lab work. I need to gather all those pieces of the puzzle together
to figure out what's going on. NARRATOR: Less than a month later, the much-anticipated lab results are delivered
to the District Nine morgue. Let's see. NARRATOR: First, Dr. G carefully checks Leesa's bone marrow
slides under the microscope looking for a cancer that could explain why her blood failed to clot.
DR. G: But there's nothing there. There's just no cancer. NARRATOR: Next, she turns to the toxicology report.
And all it takes is a quick read to confirm Dr. G's suspicions. She's got a whopping level of alcohol in her system, a 0.316.
I have seen people who aren't used to alcohol die with that level. NARRATOR: But given Leesa's disheveled appearance,
fatty liver, cerebellar atrophy, and blood alcohol level, Dr. G can tell that she was a chronic alcoholic.
She's clearly a big-timer drinker. NARRATOR: With this last piece of the puzzle finally in place,
Dr. G is now able to reconstruct the tragedy of Leesa's Allen's untimely death. I think we have all our answers.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: It's a breezy sun-filled afternoon, but Leesa is shut up inside indulging
in her favorite pastime-- getting drunk. This is a big-time alcoholic. And ultimately, it's her chronic alcoholism
that caused all her problems. NARRATOR: Years of alcohol abuse have severely compromised Leesa's liver.
But more importantly, her brain is now damaged beyond repair. DR. G: The alcohol caused the part of her brain
that helps with coordination and movement to shrink. That's why she has all those bruises on her body.
That's why she's falling so much. [SCREAM] But I doubt that the atrophy in and of itself
caused her to pass out or die. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: Instead, Dr. G believes
that on the day of her death, Leesa's brain atrophy and her high level of intoxication
made for a deadly combination. Both of those factors caused her to fall against the fireplace hearth.
[SCREAM] NARRATOR: The shear force of the fall causes her to fracture several of her ribs
and opens up a two-inch gash in her head. Leesa stumbles to the couch and feebly
tries to stop the bleeding. But she has a hard time getting that blood to stop. Because of her alcoholism, her blood
wasn't able to clot very well. NARRATOR: Like some diseases, alcohol can also affect coagulation by interfering with the body's
ability to clot blood. Soon, there's not enough blood to carry vital oxygen throughout her body.
And one by one, Leesa's organs begin to shut down. She's so drunk she doesn't have the wherewithal
to even call for help. She dies alone and drunk on that couch. [MUSIC PLAYING] If she wasn't an alcoholic, this wouldn't have happened to her.
Cerebellar atrophy is relatively uncommon. We typically only see it in a very small percentage
of chronic alcoholics. It's interesting why some people get it and some people don't, but it's probably
the amount of malnutrition, the amount of alcohol, and even some genetic factors.
NARRATOR: Now, Dr. G faces the difficult task of breaking the news to Leesa's sister, Marie.
The sister was relieved when I told her it wasn't a homicide. But she didn't know she had any kind of brain abnormality.
She had no idea that alcohol could do that to you. NARRATOR: For Dr. G, Leesa's death
is a powerful cautionary tale. DR. G: The effects of alcohol on the body play a tremendous role in the deaths
that come through my office. In fact, it's estimated at least 100,000 people die in the United States a year as a result of alcohol.
Never underestimate the power of alcohol in destroying your life and your body.

When Marie Allen visits her sister, she makes a gruesome discovery: the 49-year-old is dead on the couch. Now, it’s up to Dr. G to figure out if this was an accident or something sinister.

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

Brief Summary

Dr. G investigates the deaths of Alonzo Smith from MRSA and Leesa Allen from alcohol-related injuries, revealing shocking medical insights.

Key points

A Sudden Tragedy. Alonzo Smith, a healthy 18-year-old football player, dies suddenly after a hospital visit.
The Search for Answers. Dr. G investigates Alonzo's mysterious death, suspecting a severe infection.
A Deadly Infection Revealed. Dr. G discovers Alonzo died from a MRSA infection contracted during football practice.
Family's Scare Continues. Alonzo's brother Darius tests positive for MRSA, raising fears of another tragedy.
A Lesson Learned. The Smith family learns the importance of hygiene after Alonzo's death from MRSA.
Leesa's Mysterious Death. Leesa Allen is found dead under suspicious circumstances, leading to an investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What just happened?

Kimberly Smith expresses disbelief after her son's death.

0:33WatchJun 22, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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