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PLEASE NOTE that Dr. Skip Baker Pronounced Vernon's time of death above... and the hospital expected the Medical Examiner's office to be notified. They also did not send a copy of the chart with the Coroner per this document.
So who pronounced him?
Vernon had been extremely healthy throughout his life. He often laughed when anyone expressed concern about his health. He did end up developing some skin cancers, but they were removed and cleared up. He had check ups over the years every once in a while just to pacify our mom because of his size but his cholesterol was normal, no diabetes and EKG's and even a stress test came back with he had the heart of a teenager. He would laugh at our mom and remind her that she had the cholesterol issues even though she was smaller than him.
It was stressful when the divorce happened no doubt, but life went on. He started dating his now widow-bride in May 2015 and then they got engaged. They went to a concert together for the first official date. 2 or so weeks later, Vernon, proposed to her. It was a whirlwind romance it seemed from the outside, but it was their romance. In June, he started having reasons and people concerned about him so he got Dr. Shown to order a cardiac stress test. It was extremely normal. He bragged about his results on facebook. Nothing else came up. He married his now widow-bride in November 2015. In February 2016, he updated his life insurance form at work. His employer required him to either list his wife as a beneficiary or she would have to sign off it. He had told us that he had put the kids on his life insurance policy but I guess not. When he passed away, the Estate secured a copy of the beneficiary page only. It turned out that his kids were not listed at all. That was perplexing knowing how much he loved them.
Well, back to the health issues, in May 2016, he began having nausea, vomiting, and often dehydration landing in the ER often from that point on until his death. In October, an ER General Practitioner, not a Cardiologist, said he thought it may be Wolf White Parkinson's Syndrome after he saw an old report where Dr. Shown had put that diagnosis on his chart based off of one singular heartbeat. The referral began to NEA Cardiology group. He continued to land in the ER a few more times but he wore a halter for 30 days. On December 19, 2016, the medical records indicate that NEA Cardiology contacted him or his wife by phone to let Vernon know that his results after nearly two months of different tests continued to show absolutely nothing wrong with his heart. They suggested that he return to see his primary care physician and seek evaluation for other possibilities because his cardiac functions were 100% normal.
December 29, 2016, the call came from a friend that the kids needed to get to the hospital. It was too late. The ER docs tried everything to revive him including looking for blockage to remove but there were no blockages. The defibrillator would not deploy because he did not have an arrhythmia. It was a devastating day.
The Deputy Coroner arrived, and he ruled it differently than the physicians stating that it was myocardial infarction instead of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. For most people, both say heart attack but in the medical field, SCA, sudden cardiac arrest means something caused his heart to stop besides your typical myocardial infarct.
It took the Deputy Coroner nearly 3 years to write the death report. We don't know why it took so long but he was told that Vernon had a lifetime history of heart disease which was not true. We have no evidence of a lifetime history of heart disease.
So why the autopsy besides the obvious? Here is why...
Under the Arkansas Laws and the CDC regulations... an autopsy is required when....
When a death is reported to the coroner, he shall conduct an investigation concerning the circumstances surrounding the death of an individual and gather and review background information, including, but not limited to, medical information and any other information which may be helpful in determining the cause and manner of death. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-301.
(M) The death is sudden and unexplained;
(N) The death occurs at a work site;
(P) The death is of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death, or, in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days;
(Q) A person is admitted to a hospital emergency room unconscious and is unresponsive, with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed, and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital, or, in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital;
The state would have paid for the autopsy if the Arkansas State Regulations were followed. Vernon did not receive fair and equal treatment under the law at all, wouldn't you agree?
Arkansas Coroner's Regulations/laws require the Coroner's Report is to be completed 5 days after death.... you can clearly see the date and why again, we are concerned that something was missed. Even this report was not completed for nearly 3 years. This is NOT an AUTOPSY.
The official cause of death was ruled Probable Myocardial Infarct secondary to Wolf White Parkinson's Syndrome. Neither diagnosis was confirmed in the medical records, only verbally by family members as you can read in this report. That is concerning to his children.
It was stressful when the divorce happened no doubt, but life went on. He started dating his now widow-bride in May 2015 and then they got engaged. They went to a concert together for the first official date. 2 or so weeks later, Vernon, proposed to her. It was a whirlwind romance it seemed from the outside, but it was their romance. In June, he started having reasons and people concerned about him so he got Dr. Shown to order a cardiac stress test. It was extremely normal. He bragged about his results on facebook. Nothing else came up. He married his now widow-bride in November 2015. In February 2016, he updated his life insurance form at work. His employer required him to either list his wife as a beneficiary or she would have to sign off it. He had told us that he had put the kids on his life insurance policy but I guess not. When he passed away, the Estate secured a copy of the beneficiary page only. It turned out that his kids were not listed at all. That was perplexing knowing how much he loved them.
Well, back to the health issues, in May 2016, he began having nausea, vomiting, and often dehydration landing in the ER often from that point on until his death. In October, an ER General Practitioner, not a Cardiologist, said he thought it may be Wolf White Parkinson's Syndrome after he saw an old report where Dr. Shown had put that diagnosis on his chart based off of one singular heartbeat. The referral began to NEA Cardiology group. He continued to land in the ER a few more times but he wore a halter for 30 days. On December 19, 2016, the medical records indicate that NEA Cardiology contacted him or his wife by phone to let Vernon know that his results after nearly two months of different tests continued to show absolutely nothing wrong with his heart. They suggested that he return to see his primary care physician and seek evaluation for other possibilities because his cardiac functions were 100% normal.
December 29, 2016, the call came from a friend that the kids needed to get to the hospital. It was too late. The ER docs tried everything to revive him including looking for blockage to remove but there were no blockages. The defibrillator would not deploy because he did not have an arrhythmia. It was a devastating day.
The Deputy Coroner arrived, and he ruled it differently than the physicians stating that it was myocardial infarction instead of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. For most people, both say heart attack but in the medical field, SCA, sudden cardiac arrest means something caused his heart to stop besides your typical myocardial infarct.
It took the Deputy Coroner nearly 3 years to write the death report. We don't know why it took so long but he was told that Vernon had a lifetime history of heart disease which was not true. We have no evidence of a lifetime history of heart disease.
So why the autopsy besides the obvious? Here is why...
Under the Arkansas Laws and the CDC regulations... an autopsy is required when....
When a death is reported to the coroner, he shall conduct an investigation concerning the circumstances surrounding the death of an individual and gather and review background information, including, but not limited to, medical information and any other information which may be helpful in determining the cause and manner of death. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-301.
(M) The death is sudden and unexplained;
(N) The death occurs at a work site;
(P) The death is of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death, or, in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days;
(Q) A person is admitted to a hospital emergency room unconscious and is unresponsive, with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed, and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital, or, in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital;
The state would have paid for the autopsy if the Arkansas State Regulations were followed. Vernon did not receive fair and equal treatment under the law at all, wouldn't you agree?
Arkansas Coroner's Regulations/laws require the Coroner's Report is to be completed 5 days after death.... you can clearly see the date and why again, we are concerned that something was missed. Even this report was not completed for nearly 3 years. This is NOT an AUTOPSY.
The official cause of death was ruled Probable Myocardial Infarct secondary to Wolf White Parkinson's Syndrome. Neither diagnosis was confirmed in the medical records, only verbally by family members as you can read in this report. That is concerning to his children.