The notary for Lender Processing Services in Las Vegas, who was found dead last November, died with three medicines in her bloodstream, according to the Clark County Coroner’s office.
Tracy Lawrence had been scheduled to appear for sentencing in a plea deal with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, but was later found dead at home.
Cause of death was initially not known. Today, following toxicology tests, a coroner’s office spokesman told Nevada Journal the cause of death was listed as “dithenhydramine-alprazolam-hydroxyzine intoxication.”
Alprazolam, according to the National Institutes of Health’s online library of medicine, is a prescription medicine used to treat anxiety and panic disorder (sudden, unexpected attacks of extreme fear and worry). Xanax is a well-known brand name for alprazolam.
Hydroxyzine is used both for anxiety and for the relief of itching caused by allergies. Additionally, it is used to control nausea and vomiting caused by various conditions, including motion sickness. It is also used to treat the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
Dithenhydramine is taken to relieve red, irritated, itchy, watery eyes, sneezing and runny nose caused by hay fever, allergies, or the common cold.
Intoxication has both a technical and a popular meaning. According to Merriam-Webster.com, the primary meaning is “an abnormal state that is essentially a poisoning,” as in “carbon monoxide intoxication.”
A secondary meaning is “the condition of being drunk.”
Steven Miller is the managing editor of Nevada Journal, a publication of the Nevada Policy Research Institute. For more in-depth reporting, visit http://nevadajournal.com/ and http://npri.org/.
Read more:
- Ballyhoo for global mortgage pact was premature
- The national mortgage-servicing settlement that isn’t
- National mortgage settlement details finally revealed
- The Art of War and the national mortgage settlement
- Have laws to aid defaulting homeowners hurt Nevada’s more-responsible majority?
- AG Masto’s office guilty of prosecutorial misconduct, sloppy legal practice, argues brief