A county medical examiner has found that a man who drank what was believed to be a cleaning fluid in a local bar last November died of natural causes and not from consumption of the caustic substance.
Dr. R. Scott Allen said that the probable cause of death for Connor Owen Sebastian was complications from gastrointestinal bleeding, resulting from alcoholic liver disease with cirrhosis and other conditions associated with chronic alcoholism.
Sebastian, 31, died last Nov. 30 at Forsyth Medical Center. The medical examiner’s report said that Sebastian had a past medical history of alcohol and drug abuse, untreated hepatitis C, cirrhosis and other ailments, prior to the incident last November when he consumed cleaning fluid at Burke Street Pub in Winston-Salem.
According to the 911 call made to Forsyth County Emergency Services at 8:18 p.m. on Nov. 9, a staffer at the bar reported that three customers had begun vomiting after they ingested a cleaning fluid that had apparently been left in one of the beer lines by the cleaning service.
People are also reading…
According to the medical examiner’s report, Sebastian was admitted to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist on Nov. 10 for treatment of a “caustic esophageal injury” and was discharged after three days.
Medical examiner Dr. R. Scott Allen said that after getting out of the hospital, Sebastian “resumed regular diet and started drinking ‘about 20 beers’ again.” Allen said Sebastian started getting sick about 4 p.m. on Nov. 16 and was vomiting blood when he went to the emergency room the next day at Clemmons Medical Center.
Sebastian’s condition worsened, and by Nov. 28 had an “overwhelming poor prognosis.” He was not a candidate for a liver transplant, and doctors believed dialysis would probably prove fatal to the patient. He was admitted to hospice care on Nov. 30 and died the same day.
According to the medical examiner’s report, the probable cause of death was complications from gastrointestinal bleeding, due to alcoholic liver disease with cirrhosis and other conditions related to chronic alcoholism. Hepatitis C was listed as a contributing condition, but the report concludes that the cause of death is “natural” and makes no mention of the cleaning fluid as a contributor.
The medical examiner said that in 2021, it was reported that Sebastian drank at least 12 drinks per day, and that he said he vomited blood daily.
Allen said in his report that because Sebastian had recently been in the hospital after ingesting the caustic substance, an autopsy was performed last Dec. 1. Allen said he consulted with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in verifying the natural cause of death.
Burke Street Pub made a statement after Sebastian’s death extending condolences to Sebastian’s family. Jeremy Demmitt, an attorney speaking for the business, on Monday declined comment on behalf of the business.