In Loving Memory
The Best Mother Ever
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLA—An autopsy of the inmate who died in the Pinellas County Jail where she was being held for allegedly stealing a $9 Philly cheesesteak sandwich from a Publix supermarket indicates her cause of death was severe pneumonia brought on by an MRSA infection, according to Pinellas County medical examiner Jon Thogmartin.
Thogmartin says that 42-year-old Dorothy Palinchik of St. Petersburg Palinchik was the victim of an apparent staph infection caused by the antibiotic-resistent MRSA bacteria and pneumonia. She died Feb. 28, less than two weeks after she had been booked into the jail and had had no pre-existing health problems. Thogmartin said the autopsy was inconclusive if she contracted the infection at the jail or was already infected at the time of her booking on Feb. 13.
Palinchik’s family says a medical center doctor told them that the infection had done irreversible damage to the woman’s arms and legs, turning them black due to loss of circulation.  Family members say that doctors at first recommended amputating her arms and legs but later reportedly told them that Palinchik would probably die even with the surgery.  The family had decided against the surgery and were planning to take her off life support when she died.
Within a week after she had been jailed, Palinchik became ill and was transferred to the jail’s medical wing on Feb. 21.  Family members claim that she had repeatedly asked for medical help before being transferred but got what they say was inadequate care and was given only one Motrin and one Sudafed although her fever of 101.5 raged for five days. 
Upon being transported to the Largo Medical Center Friday night with chest pain and difficulty breathing, she lapsed into a coma.
The sheriff’s department has launched an internal investigation into the matter. The family has hired attorney Mark Buell of Tampa to initiate a federal civil rights claim against the Pinellas County Jail.

northcountrygazette.org