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Patient Being Treated at Morgantown Hospital for H1N1 Dies
November 10, 2009 ; 10:17 AM
The patient was transfered from an Upshur County hospital.
Story by Stacy Moniot

MORGANTOWN -- A state health department official has confirmed that a patient at Ruby Memorial Hospital, in Morgantown, has died while being treated for the H1N1 swine flu.

The patient was transported to Morgantown from St. Joseph's Hospital in Buckhannon.

A hospital spokeswoman confirmed that the patient was an adult woman who had tested positive for the H1N1 virus.

The person's identity has not been released.

The cause of death has not been determined yet.

As of Monday, Ruby Memorial had 13 patients being treated for the swine flu, four children and five adults with confirmed cases of the virus, and 4four others who were awaiting test results, officials said.

Woman with H1N1 dies
[...]
A Ruby Memorial Hospital spokeswoman confirmed the death of a woman from Upshur County in her early 50s who had tested positive for H1N1.
[...]
Josh Marsh, local health administrator at the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department, said his office had not yet received any information from the state health department to confirm that this was the first Upshur County H1N1-related death.
[...]

WELLSBURG, WV -- Brooke County Health Department Director Karen McClain confirms a resident died from complications to influenza .
She says it doesn't appear that there will be any testing to determine if it was season flu or swine flu, now referred to as H1N1.

Officials won't even tell us if the victim was a man or a woman, but they did note that the victim had an underlying medical condition.

They will not say what hospital the victim died in.

The Centers for Disease Control say almost all of the influenza viruses right now have been H1N1.

The Brooke County Health Department Director Karen McClain says its important for people to know right now that each year deaths occur from the flu.

Swine Flu Victim's Family Speaks
Posted: November 30, 2009
Updated: December 1, 2009

For days, 33-year-old Lisa Briggs had symptoms. She had chills, fatigue, spiking fevers -- but she didn't want to go to the hospital and leave her family.

"She didn't want to be in the hospital, away from the kids," said her husband, Chris Briggs.

On Halloween night, Lisa, a mother of two, agreed to go to the hospital.

After days in Wheeling Hospital, Lisa was life-flighted to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W. Va. Her condition was so bad she was quarantined in a glass room.

"She was in an isolation room. They did a wash-out of her lungs and she did test positive for swine flu," said Briggs.

Doctors also discovered that Lisa had bacterial pneumonia. Doctors induced a coma after her condition deteriorated. Before she went under, her husband of 11 years came to her side.

"I just told her I loved her and to get better," said Briggs.

She never regained consciousness.

"We saw them do CPR on her and everything," said Briggs

On Nov. 14 at 10:35 a.m., the doctor told Lisa's family she had passed.

"His exact words were, 'She played good ball, but the game was over'," said Briggs.

Lisa and her husband had just bought a new house in Weirton, W. Va. She never lived in it. Now, her family fills the walls of their new home with lasting memories of her.

"She loved kids. Pretty much her life revolved around me, the kids and church," said Briggs.

He said her only underlying medical condition was sleep apnea. It's unclear where she contracted the virus.