Many of you will remember the story of Joe Bruckbauer, who was co-leader
of the Parkinsons Young Onset group here in London, Canada, until his tragic
death in January. Joe's wife, Donna, has now received the official reports
on Joe's death, and thought they should be shared with the Parkinson List.
Joe was only 57, and the coroner's report says he appeared "younger than
recorded 57 years."
He was healthy in every respect except for his Parkinsons, which had
forced him to leave his job a few months earlier. He had taken part in a
test of Mirapex, one of the new drugs which came on the market later, and
had been on Amantadine, Tasmar and Requip, at different times, shortly
before his death.
He had suffered periods of severe dystonia and hallucinations
immediately prior to his hospitalization, and had been sent to a psychiatric
ward after an emergency admission.
We (Joe's friends) had suspected that the number of different drugs Joe
had been given, and possibly the amounts, contributed to his death, and we
now feel the official reports confirm this.
The medical jargon may be difficult for most of us to interpret, but
here, in a nutshell, is what the coroner's report said:
There is no evidence of diffuse Lewy body disease in addition to
Parkinsons.
"There was evidence of relatively recent infarcts in multiple
territories of the brain, suggesting embolism. These lesions, perhaps in
conjunction with drugs he may have been taking for his Parkinson's disease,
may constitute the structural basis for the hallucinations."
That may explain the hallucinations, but does not say what killed Joe.
In his post mortem report, the coroner says: "An anatomical cause of
death has not been demonstrated," but the official cause of death is "apneic
seizure" and "by what means": "natural."
Apparently to explain the cause of the seizures, a Neuropathy Report
says: "Some infarcts are present in the CA-1 sector of the hippocampus and
in the white matter of the frontal lobe. The infarct on the hippocampus can
be dated since it shows complete loss of neurons, accompanied by prominent
microglial proliferation and gliosis, without cavitation. Thus, this infarct
must be more than a week old, but less than at most a few months of age."
(If anybody can clarify this in laymen's terms, we'd be happy to hear
from you.)
Privately, the coroner describes the cause of death as "emboli in the
brain."
An interesting, although perhaps inconclusive, section of the reports
comes from the Centre of Forensic Sciences, and concerns Amantadine, one of
the drugs Joe was taking in the later stages:
"The detected level of Amantadine exceeds concentrations associated with the
therapeutic administration of the drug . . . Whereas central nervous system
toxicity including nervousness, confusion, hallucinations, seizures and
coma, has been associated with plasma concentrations of 0.1 to 0.5 mg/100 mL
. . ., fatalities attributed solely to Amantadine have been associated with
blood
concentrations of 2.1 mg/100 mL . . . . and greater."
Joe's Amantadine level was 1.3 mg/100 mL. (During the two days before
his death, Joe's Amantadine had been reduced significantly.)
We still don't know what combinations or levels of drugs caused him to
die, if indeed the drugs were the culprit.
Again, our heartfelt thanks to all who shared our sorrow, and especially
to Janet who posted Joe's story on her web site.
Donna Bruckbauer <[log in to unmask]>
Al and Judith
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
[log in to unmask]
^^^
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