Accusations fly after death in rehab
Her arms also had various track (needle) marks
A self-confessed drug addict from Florida, Wouter Olsson, 30, is accusing Westview Clinic of neglect after his girlfriend Gloria Fisher, 33, had died while in their care.
Fischer was declared dead by paramedics at around 4.30am on 25 April. Olsson claims Fisher overdosed after shooting up heroin with a roommate in the rehabilitation facility. He alleged that an empty heroin packet was found in the roommate’s possession. He went on to say access control to the clinic is lax and that when he was a patient, drugs and alcohol were freely available. Furthermore Olsson said Fisher was a Cat addict but the clinic administered methodone, an opiate treatment. According to him a doctor never saw her and she was given methadone without a prescription.
According to Olsson, he and Fisher were expecting a baby but said there were signs that she had a miscarriage.
In a candid interview with the Record Freda Steenkamp, director of the clinic, countered Olsson’s claims and explained the origin of some of his allegations.
According to Steenkamp both Olsson and Fisher were patients in December, but after falling in love head over heels they absconded before their treatment was over. The two’s money soon ran out as they descended back into a life of drug abuse and eventually ended up living with Olsson’s parents. Steenkamp said before her death Fisher alleged that Olsson physically and verbally abused her.
“On Wednesday 20 April a good friend brought Gloria back to the rehab. She was in a shocking state and did not bring any clothes. Her arms also had various track (needle) marks. At first she was very emotional but by the Friday she became more responsive and we had a heart-to-heart,” said Steenkamp.
“Gloria asked me ‘why did you not smash my head against the wall until I listened to you’ (refering to Steenkamp’s warnings not to associate with Olsson anymore). I do not have anything against Wouter but from more than 20 years’ experience I know that relationships between newly clean addicts never work and increases the chance of relapsing.
“Then she told me how Wouter allegedly got her hooked on opiates. While living at his mother’s house the two tried to stay clean, but one day she walked in on him in the bathroom spiking heroin. She angrily asked him what he was doing and he told her she would not understand since she did not know how it felt. She then gave in and he injected her with heroin. She said she was hooked immediately. The two then started getting high on methadone as well,” said Steenkamp.
Steenkamp denied Olsson’s claim that a doctor did not see her.
“The same day she came in a doctor did a COWS score, which quantifies the severity of opiate withdrawal symptoms. He prescribed the methadone,” explained Steenkamp. The doctor saw her again on the Friday and increased her dosage to 20ml which is in line with treating withdrawals. She never told me about the miscarriage, but allegedly told some of the other staff. There also has been allegations that she might have had a backstreet abortion, but I do not know.
“When she died I immediately phoned Wouter wanting to know if he somehow got drugs to her, maybe throwing it over the wall. (Olsson was denied access to her and the premises.) He strongly denied this and I believed him,” said Steenkamp.
“When the coroner took her away he asked me to search her cupboards. To my horror I found an empty methadone bottle, but her friend who brought her in later told me it was empty when she was admitted. Gloria had asked her if she could keep it as a souvenir of her old life that she was leaving behind,” said Steenkamp.
As far as Olsson’s accusation of poor access control and negligence go, Steenkamp said they have extremely stringent measures. Only the people who bring in a patient is allowed to visit them and all new patients are searched thoroughly, including cavity searches. She also tested the girl suspected of bringing in heroin, but she tested negative.
“Wouter is wrong about that as well. We gave Gloria her own room as we felt she needed her own space; the other girl was never her roommate,” said Steenkamp.
Steenkamp admitted though that regardless of their stringent measures there is always the isolated incident of a patient managing to smuggle in drugs. “This you will find at all rehabs across the world,” she said.
Fisher’s death certificate allegedly states she died of unnatural causes but police declined to comment for now, saying an investigation is pending the outcome of a toxicology report.
Fisher leaves two daughters behind. Her funeral took place on Thursday (5 May).
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