Doctors Give Salisbury Woman Painkillers After Heroin Overdose
SALISBURY (CBS) - Police and investigators with the Essex District Attorney's office are looking into whether a Salisbury woman died from the opiate-based painkillers doctors gave her after treating her for a heroin overdose.
Police say 44-year-old Gretchen Fordham crashed her car into a tree on an Interstate 495 ramp Sunday night. They charged her with driving under the influence of drugs, her second such offense. But because she needed medical help, instead of taking her into custody, they sent her to Anna Jacques Hospital.
There, police say she was given the heroin overdose drug Narcan, and was also treated for a broken wrist. Police say doctors sent her home with an oxycodone prescription, which she filled at a 24-hour pharmacy on her way home.
Police say Gretchen Fordham walked in her door after a heroin overdose with a fresh bottle of opiate painkillers in her hand. Hours later, her boyfriend called 911. "She's dead. Please, somebody!"
The dispatcher helped him try to revive her. "I believe he began CPR to no avail. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead," said Salisbury Police Chief Tom Fowler. "We're not sure the cause of death at this point."
While the Medical Examiner conducts toxicology tests to determine what killed her, Fordham's friends tells WBZ one thing is certain. After what she had just been through, she was the last person any doctor should have given opiates to.