Hyperthermia

Nearly a year ago, Bucks County prosecutors faced a legal quandary - whether or not to charge a day-care operator who inadvertently left a toddler to die in her van on a sweltering summer day. Ultimately, they charged Rimma Shvartsman with involuntary manslaughter in the death of 2-year-old Daniel Slutsky. A jury later acquitted her. Now, District Attorney David Heckler faces a similar decision. This week, his office is expected to announce whether it will prosecute anyone in the July 24 hyperthermia death of Bryan Nevins, a resident at Woods Service in Langhorne.

As he winds his way through Pennsylvania's hard-coal country or the farmland of Chester County, Ted Nerlinger might look like yet another tourist in a grimy motor home. In fact, he is a man on his way to work. He just takes his office with him. Nerlinger's beige Pace Arrow is a traveling cancer treatment facility designed to make one type of specialized care more accessible to people who live outside of the state's major cities. Later this month, the motor home, which contains a $200,000 machine that zaps cancerous tumors with microwaves, will begin making regular stops at Exton Cancer Center in Oaklands Corporate Center.

With the temperature cracking 90 for the fourth time in five days, the Philadelphia Health Department yesterday reported the city's second heat- related death of the season. The body of Lena Rogers, 52, was found inside her home in the 1600 block of Christian Street, said Health Department spokesman Jeff Moran. He said that the home had no air conditioning and no fans, and that the windows were closed when the body was found. The cause of death was hyperthermia. Hyperthermia also contributed to the death of Wayne Singleton, 33, of the 2400 block of Napa Street, who was pronounced dead early Thursday at Medical College Hospitals' Main Clinical Campus, Moran said.

A Bucks County Court judge has acquitted former day-care operator Rimma Shvartsman of the last charge against her in the death of a toddler she forgot was inside her locked minivan last summer. On March 22, a jury found Shvartsman, 47, of Northampton, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in the July 1, 2009, hyperthermia death of Daniel Slutsky. Shvartsman had driven the 2-year-old to her day-care center in Penndel, then forgot to remove him from the backseat of her van. He was found seven hours later, unresponsive on the floor of the vehicle.

Using heat to kill the AIDS virus has caught the public's imagination after an Atlanta Hospital reported trying an experimental, blood-heating treatment on two AIDS patients. The results of this procedure are unclear, with Atlanta researchers claiming the first patient has no trace of virus in his body, while knowledgeable AIDS experts point out the virus can hide undetected before inevitably becoming activated. While the principle of hyperthermia, or heating the body, is being debated in AIDS treatment, using heat in combination with radiation is an accepted weapon in the fight against advanced cancers, said Dr. Gerald E. Hanks, chairman of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Brutal heat claims 4 lives The ongoing excessive heat claimed the lives of two Philadelphia residents and two in Delaware County last week. Officials said a 90-year-old woman was found dead in her South Philadelphia home Saturday. Jeff Moran, Health Department spokesman, said the woman had used a fan with her windows shut, which can increase dehydration. A 56-year-old Northeast man who was treated at a hospital for hyperthermia Saturday was pronounced dead a short time later.

Bryan Nevins' Saturday morning began at Sesame Place, but it ended in hell when the severely autistic man was left to die in a van on a day when the temperature reached 97 degrees. Now, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and Middletown Police are investigating whether someone will face charges for what District Attorney David Heckler said was a "terrible" death. "This poor kid," Heckler said. "It's pretty rough. " Nevins, 20, of Queens, N.Y., was a resident at Woods Services, a Langhorne-based facility that caters to people with autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries.

A team of epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is examining cases from July's heat wave to determine how many of the city's reported 114 heat-related deaths were classified correctly. The team is here at the request of city and state officials, who hope that the nation's definition of heat death will be expanded beyond the current, strict medical definition of hyperthermia, said Dr. Lawrence Robinson, the city's deputy health commissioner. "We hope to get clarification on the issue of what is a heat-related death becuase that's the main controversy," Robinson said.

After working in the scorching heat this week as camp counselors, friends Kelly Donoghue and Emma Hirsch, both 16, are planning to pamper themselves this weekend with an extra-special treat. "Air conditioning, lots of air conditioning," Donoghue said smiling, as she and Hirsch sat with their feet in the fountain at LOVE Park last night in Center City, trying to catch a breeze. The air conditioning will be almost mandatory today, as temperatures are forecasted to hit 100 degrees for the third time this month, according to the Fox 29 weather forecast.

Nearly a year ago, Bucks County prosecutors faced a legal quandary - whether or not to charge a day-care operator who inadvertently left a toddler to die in her van on a sweltering summer day. Ultimately, they charged Rimma Shvartsman with involuntary manslaughter in the death of 2-year-old Daniel Slutsky. A jury later acquitted her. Now, District Attorney David Heckler faces a similar decision. This week, his office is expected to announce whether it will prosecute anyone in the July 24 hyperthermia death of Bryan Nevins, a resident at Woods Service in Langhorne.

The recent heat deaths of several men under treatment for mental issues in Philadelphia's suburbs are being criminally investigated, prosecutors in Bucks and Montgomery County said Thursday. The hyperthermia death Saturday of Bryan Nevins, an autistic man who died after five hours in a parked van at Woods Services near Langhorne, could amount to involuntary manslaughter, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said Thursday. Nevins, 20, had the mental ability of a 2-year-old, according to his mother.

Jerry Snavely, 62, suffered from schizophrenia and barely managed to keep it together living in his small, dilapidated Norristown apartment. He loved soda and ice cream and liked to keep his place warm, with the windows closed no matter how hot it was outside. And that's what killed him. The Montgomery County coroner ruled this week that Snavely and two other men known or thought to suffer from mental illness all died of hyperthermia within days of one another this month - two in the same apartment.

Bryan Nevins' Saturday morning began at Sesame Place, but it ended in hell when the severely autistic man was left to die in a van on a day when the temperature reached 97 degrees. Now, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and Middletown Police are investigating whether someone will face charges for what District Attorney David Heckler said was a "terrible" death. "This poor kid," Heckler said. "It's pretty rough. " Nevins, 20, of Queens, N.Y., was a resident at Woods Services, a Langhorne-based facility that caters to people with autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries.

Brutal heat claims 4 lives The ongoing excessive heat claimed the lives of two Philadelphia residents and two in Delaware County last week. Officials said a 90-year-old woman was found dead in her South Philadelphia home Saturday. Jeff Moran, Health Department spokesman, said the woman had used a fan with her windows shut, which can increase dehydration. A 56-year-old Northeast man who was treated at a hospital for hyperthermia Saturday was pronounced dead a short time later.

After working in the scorching heat this week as camp counselors, friends Kelly Donoghue and Emma Hirsch, both 16, are planning to pamper themselves this weekend with an extra-special treat. "Air conditioning, lots of air conditioning," Donoghue said smiling, as she and Hirsch sat with their feet in the fountain at LOVE Park last night in Center City, trying to catch a breeze. The air conditioning will be almost mandatory today, as temperatures are forecasted to hit 100 degrees for the third time this month, according to the Fox 29 weather forecast.

A Bucks County Court judge has acquitted former day-care operator Rimma Shvartsman of the last charge against her in the death of a toddler she forgot was inside her locked minivan last summer. On March 22, a jury found Shvartsman, 47, of Northampton, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in the July 1, 2009, hyperthermia death of Daniel Slutsky. Shvartsman had driven the 2-year-old to her day-care center in Penndel, then forgot to remove him from the backseat of her van. He was found seven hours later, unresponsive on the floor of the vehicle.

Rimma Shvartsman forgot. A professional day-care provider, Shvartsman forgot on July 1 - a day when temperatures reached the mid-80s - that a 2-year-old boy was strapped in a car seat inside her minivan. The toddler, Daniel Slutsky, died of hyperthermia after being left there for seven hours. But that does not make Shvartsman, 47, a criminal, her attorney argued yesterday at a preliminary hearing. "Forgetting is not a crime," said Michael Mustokoff, defending Shvartsman against charges of involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child, and leaving an unattended child in a motor vehicle.