Madelyn Linsenmeir, Whose Obit Went Viral, Died of Infection

Madelyn Linsenmeir, center, at her booking in Springfield, Mass. Credit: Screenshot

A Vermont woman who died last year after her arrest in Massachusetts had a once-rare heart infection that has been on the rise among injection drug users. Madelyn Linsenmeir’s death was felt around the world after an obit that dealt frankly with her drug abuse went viral.

MassLive reported Thursday that the Massachusetts state medical examiner listed “consequences of septicemia in the setting of tricuspid valve endocarditis” as Linsenmeir’s immediate cause of death.

Septicemia is a blood infection. Endocarditis is an infection of the inner lining of the heart. People who inject drugs are at an especially high risk for endocarditis because bacteria from skin or syringes can enter their veins and reach the heart.

Seven Days previously reported that the number of endocarditis cases treated at University of Vermont Medical Center spiked sixfold between 2013 and 2017. Doctors attributed that to the opiate crisis.

An autopsy showed that Linsenmeir had been infected by the antibiotic-resistant bacterium known as MRSA, according to MassLive.

Linsenmeir reported feeling ill at the time of her arrest in Springfield, Mass., on September 29. But she was not treated until several days later, when she was taken to the hospital by ambulance. She died a few days after that, on October 7.

Her sister, Kate O’Neill, chronicled Linsenmeir’s struggle with opiate addiction in an obit that ran in Seven Days and the Burlington Free Press. (Seven Days has since hired O’Neill for a special reporting project on the opiate crisis.)

Linsenmeir’s family, represented by the Massachusetts ACLU, sued the Springfield Police last fall for records that they hoped could shed light on why Linsenmeir was initially refused medical attention by police.

Video from the booking facility was released earlier this month. It shows Linsenmeir asking to be taken to a hospital for chest pain as she is processed and eventually ushered down a hallway by a Springfield booking officer.

Endocarditis treatment can require six weeks’ hospital stay, Seven Days reported. Five people died from the infection in Vermont in 2015.

2 replies on “Madelyn Linsenmeir, Whose Obit Went Viral, Died of Infection”

Jean Koch says:

January 25, 2019 at 12:20 pm

So very glad that someone is following up on this sad, sad story. So afraid of so many more going down the same path without the knowledge and access to the care needed to prevent and cure this. Thank you for your work on this story.
shelburnite says:

January 28, 2019 at 5:08 pm

I appreciate that Seven Days keeps adding the photo of Madelyn Linsenmeir with her baby to the articles published about her passing. Firstly, because I think the baby is unbelievably cute, and the face he’s making is so adorable and meme-able I can’t help but smile. But more importantly because it’s such a joyful photo. Addiction is no joke. It is incredibly tough to kick, whether it’s alcohol, opioids, methamphetamines, cocaine, etc. One really can’t kick an addiction to those substances without multiple supports; first to get into recovery, and then to prop one up to stay in recovery. And even with multiple supports that path of recovery can be very grueling and tough at times. And many people (but not all) who have addictions also have an underlying mental health challenge that can range from mild to severe, and the person may not even know it. Many go undiagnosed.
You can see the difference in the two photos – the one where Madelyn’s at the police station, and the one of her hiking. The difference in the two photos is addiction.