I called the cell phone number I have for Dr. Peele. 1 I did not expect him to answer, but he did. I said that I was Kathie Gagne’s son and that both a nurse at Fish Memorial Hospital and Dr. Allen Cusack, the manager of the mortuary where my mother’s body is currently located, had told me that he was refusing to sign the death certificate.
Dr. Peele said that he was, “very sorry to hear about your mother, but I’m not sure why she died.” He said, “We would like to know why she died,” why she was so confused and in the state that she was. He said that it could have been a psychological problem, but “we could only get yes or no answers” out of her at Woodland Terrace.
I told Dr. Peele that I had talked to Bob Burch at the office of the medical examiner of Volusia County, and he had told me that he couldn’t do an autopsy unless Dr. Peele refused to sign the death certificate, but that didn’t make any sense because Dr. Peele was clearly refusing to sign it.
Dr. Peele said that he would call and ask for Bob Burch. 2
He then said, “I really don’t know why she died. I think an autopsy will help us all.”
Dr. Peele told me that he would call me and confirm when he contacted the medical examiner’s office. 3
1 Note that this website uses Pacific time. This call occurred at 11:27 AM EDT.
2 I asked Dr. Peele if he would like the phone number to contact the Medical Examiner’s office and he said he did, so I gave it to him.
3 I have not yet received confirmation from Dr. Peele as of 2:25 AM EDT on August 15th, 2012.