A Cambria County woman may have died last week as a result of making contact with drug paraphernalia while cleaning up from the suspected overdose death of her son, the coroner said Tuesday. Her son died the next day, according to the news station. Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees told WJAC that authorities believe Plummer absorbed a substance through her skin or had a reaction after handling drug paraphernalia while cleaning her son’s home. She began having shortness of breath and was taken to the hospital, where she died Nov. 6, WJAC reported. "This is a caution for safety, for anyone coming into contact with any type of powder substance,” Lees told WJAC. “You should use extreme caution and notify the proper authorities."
– A double tragedy in Pennsylvania, where authorities say a woman may have died because she cleaned up her son's drug paraphernalia after finding him unresponsive in the bathroom—and the son, too, ultimately died of a drug overdose. Theresa Plummer probably absorbed a substance through her skin or had a reaction to something she handled in the bathroom, the coroner says, according to WJAC. The 69-year-old found 45-year-old Ronald Plummer on Nov. 5; after he was taken to the hospital, she returned to clean up the scene, WOKV reports. She went to the hospital with shortness of breath and died Nov. 6. Her son died the following day. "This is a caution for safety for anyone coming into contact with any type of powder substance," the coroner says. "You should use extreme caution and notify the proper authorities. My strong advice to any family that may have this happen to them is to call law enforcement to have them or EMS services come back and remove the substance or material that may have been left behind." Toxicology reports are still pending, but autopsies on mother and son are complete.