Woman who used feeding tube to drink dies at home

A Wauwatosa woman who had used a feeding tube to drink alcohol and was arrested earlier this month for her third drunken driving offense died last week, likely of alcohol-related causes, police say.

According to police:

The 47-year-old woman was pronounced dead at her home in the 200 block of 111th Street about 7 p.m. June 22. Her father found her unresponsive in her bedroom. After pouring water over her head to get her to wake up and calling several relatives for advice, he decided to call paramedics.

She had been battling throat cancer for four years and had her voice box removed. She had a feeding tube inserted to get nourishment.

However, she told Wauwatosa police when she was arrested on June 11 that she had used the tube to ingest alcohol and she described herself an alcoholic. She was stopped after she was seen driving on the wrong side of the street and pulling into lot of a liquor store.

Four empty bottles of vodka were found in her room when paramedics arrived on the day she died. She had previously told police that she was not supposed to drink alcohol because of the strong medications she was taking.

Her father said he was unaware his daughter had been drinking. He said she had not felt well and had been admitted to Froedtert Hospital on June 19 for dehydration and malnutrition.