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A South Florida man, who died after eating raw oysters and became infected with a flesh-eating disease, had various drugs in his system at the time of his passing, including cocaine and fentanyl, a report says.
Roger Pinckney, a 44-year-old from Davie, died July 31 after a fever and abdominal pains hospitalized him for eight days following a meal he had at the Rustic Inn Crabhouse in Fort Lauderdale, NBC 6 reports, citing findings from the Broward County Medical Examiner.
"Over the course of 60 years, we have served a couple billion oysters, and we never had anyone get sick like this guy did," Rustic Inn Crabhouse manager Gary Oreal told the South Florida SunSentinel, noting that Pinckney worked at the restaurant years ago.
Inspectors from the Florida Department of Health examined the restaurant's kitchen and its oyster inventory the day after Pinckney became ill, Oreal told the newspaper.
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Roger Pinckney is one of two people to have died recently in Florida after eating raw Louisiana oysters. (Facebook)
"We passed with flying colors, and we were allowed to continue to sell oysters," he said, adding the oysters being served currently are from Louisiana. "If there was a problem with the oyster bed we would know it because others would have gotten sick."
The medical examiner report said Pinckney tested positive for cannabis, cocaine, fentanyl, oxycodone and opiates after his death. Pinckney also tested positive for Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria found in warm seawater, according to NBC 6.
While hospitalized, Pinckney started experiencing necrotizing fasciitis — a flesh-eating disease — "due to the bacteria," the medical examiner reportedly said. Just before his death, Pinckney went into multi-organ failure and had been placed on continuous dialysis, NBC 6 also reported, citing the health findings.
Roger "Rocky" Pinckney consumed oysters at the Rustic Inn Crabhouse in Fort Lauderdale on July 21 before going to a hospital two days later, the South Florida SunSentinel reports. (Google Maps)
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"It still doesn’t feel completely real," his daughter, Jaelyn Pinckney, told the South Florida SunSentinel. "I don’t know how an oyster could cause all of this."
Jaelyn Pinckney described her father as "the life of every single party" and said there was "never a single moment of just boring around him."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the Vibrio bacteria does not make an oyster look, smell or taste any different. The agency said about 80,000 people get vibriosis in the U.S. each year, and about 100 people die from it.
The Florida Department of Health says 26 people have become infected with the bacteria so far this year with six of them later dying; in 2021, 34 people were infected with 10 dying; and in 2020, there were seven deaths among the 36 who became ill.
Some people like to eat oysters raw, but the CDC and other health agencies do not recommend doing so because of vibriosis risks. (iStock)
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Last week, a man in Pensacola died after contracting the bacteria from oysters he bought at a market, the Pensacola News Journal reported. Those oysters also came from Louisiana, officials said.
Infections linked to the bacteria are common in oysters and raw seafood during the summer months when water temperatures are warmer, University of West Florida Professor Robert Farr told the newspaper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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