Up on the roof
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Cause of death revealed for patient who died after being found on hospital's roof
Authorities on Monday released the cause of death for the patient who died hours after she was found on the roof of Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan.
An autopsy determined Tiffany Adolphus, 28, of Waukegan, died from hypothermia as a result of cold exposure, according to the Lake County Coroner's Office. Adolphus was admitted to the hospital at around 4 a.m. Wednesday morning for unspecified medical issues. She was found unresponsive on the roof of the hospital at around 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, and was only wearing a hospital gown at the time.
Adolphus was subsequently taken to the hospital's emergency department, where her body temperature was determined to be around 55 degrees, the coroner stated. She was pronounced dead roughly 14 hours later - at 11:03 p.m. According to the coroner's office, the 28-year-old was determined to be missing from her room around six hours before she was found.)
My guess? Tiffany needed a smoke. Knowing she couldn't go out to the front entrance of the hospital, she went to the roof, where the door locked behind her.
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Tough way to go.
(Considering that every body lives on their phone in todays world, surprised she didn't have a phone with her and could call someone.)
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V-fib can occur when core body temperature drops below approximately 30°C (86°F), though it's more commonly seen around 28-30°C (82.4-86°F).
When I was doing hearts, we wouldn't even try to defibrillate an arrested hypothermic heart until we reached a core body temperature of 34 degrees centigrade.
ETA: We would measure temperature via a temperature probe in the urinary catheter and another one positioned behind the heart via the esophagus which I would insert.
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Saw a follow up that said she was there for alcohol rehab.
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@Jolly said in Up on the roof:
Well, made it harder to freeze her.
Should that be in the "Dark Thread"? 555