Credit: Tom Sofield/NewtownPANow.com
The cause of death for a Philadelphia woman who died while an inmate of the Bucks County Correctional Facility in March was released Thursday afternoon.
Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck said Melissia Mager, 48, of Philadelphia, died at 11:41 a.m. on March 1 at Doylestown Hospital’s emergency room, where she was taken by jail staff.
The coroner said Mager’s death was caused by a perforated duodenal ulcer, and the manner of death was natural. A duodenal ulcer is an intestinal ulcer.
“The coroner’s office takes any in-custody death very seriously and does an independent investigation to determine the cause and manner of death. The autopsy showed no evidence of external trauma or foul play. Bowel perforation is a serious complication of peptic ulcer disease,” Buck said in a statement to NewtownPANow.com.
Before her death, Mager was observed to be in distress at the jail and staff called 9-1-1. She was then transported to the Doylestown Township hospital for care, authorities said.
Mager was brought into the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown Township on February 25 after an arrest the day prior.
Mager recently was facing a drug-related charge from last year out of Middletown Township. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest, according to court records.
The Philadelphia woman’s death was the second this year for the Bucks County Department of Corrections.
Octavius Davis, 35, of Bristol Township’s Croydon section, was identified as the person who died at the county jail in January of drug intoxication.
The first death of 2022 at the correctional facility happened in March. Inmate Edwin Dunfee, 46, of Philadelphia, died at the facility by suicide.
Christopher Robert, 25, of New Hope, killed himself in June 2022 by purposely choking on food at the jail, the coroner said.
In early July 2022, Floyd Harper, 37, of Tullytown Borough, died by suicide while jailed on charges filed by Amtrak police.
Charles Hall, 50, died in July 2022 from a pulmonary thromboemboli due to deep vein thrombosis. His cause of death was ruled natural.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s extraordinary occurrence statistics and this news organization’s tally dating back to 2015, Bucks County has reported seven inmate suicides, one homicide, and nine medical-related or accidental deaths at the correctional facility, according to Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s extraordinary occurrence statistics and this news organization’s tally.
