Lancaster Mother May Be Latest Swine Flu Death

A Lancaster woman who died Friday evening may be the latest swine flu casualty in Dallas County. 

Debra Hatchel said she realized something was wrong with her daughter, 25-year-old Heather Provorse, on Sept. 21.  She had a fever and a cough. Taking no chances, she took her daughter to the hospital.

"I asked the doctor, "I said is this just the regular flu, is this swine flu, or what is this?" said Hatchel.  "And he said that he thought it was swine flu because the last few days they'd really been bombarded with a lot of people coming in with the same symptoms that I brought her in with."

Hatchel said doctors sent Provorse home without prescription for Tamiflu.

"I even asked him, 'Are you sure she doesn't need it?' and he told me that he felt that she could go home and take Motrin and Tylenol and cough medicine, and if she did not get better to bring her back," said Hatchel.

Provorse's condition got increasingly worse.

"Her lips were kind of a little bit purple, so I immediately called the ambulance," Hatchel said.

On Friday, after eight days in the hospital, Provorse died.

"My daughter was a high-risk patient," Hatchel said. "She had asthma as a child, she's had respiratory issues for a while, and she was very overweight."

Even knowing about the pre-existing health issues, Hatchel said she still wonders if the outcome could have been different.

"I don't know that it would have been different if they had given her Tamiflu Tuesday when I first took her. I don't know if we would be where we are right now," said Hatchel.

She hopes there are lesson to be learned from her daughter's battle and her incredible loss.

"I don't want any other family to go through what we're going through because people just don't listen. It just doesn't make sense," said Hatchel.

Provorse leaves behind an 8-year-old son. Her family has set up a memorial fund in her name to help cover the young mother's funeral expenses.

The Heather Provorse Memorial Fund is set up through Bank of America. The account number is 488023714076.