CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has accused a woman of medical neglect in connection to the death of a diabetic teen.
Shirl Lee Sweeney, 50, of Charleston County, is charged with unlawful conduct toward a child.
Shirl Lee Sweeney, 50, of Charleston County, is charged with unlawful conduct toward a child. (Al Cannon Detention Center)
The charges stem from an incident that happened Aug. 13, 2022 when Sweeney called 911 after finding the 17-year-old girl, who Sweeney was the guardian of, lying on the bathroom floor, according to affidavits.
Sweeney could reportedly be heard on the call telling dispatch she “knew [the teen] shouldn’t of had that milkshake.”
The girl was taken to Trident Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
The World Health Organization says normal fasting blood glucose levels should be between 70 mg/dL and 100 mg/dL for a person 18 years of age or older.
At the time of the girl’s death, her blood glucose level was around 10 times the acceptable level for an adult, measuring at 953 milligrams of sugar per deciliter of blood.
The 17-year-old had also lost a significant amount of weight in less than a year, dropping from 136 lbs to 98 lbs.
The teen’s manner of death was ruled a homicide and the Charleston County Coroner requested SLED to investigate.
SLED claims that Sweeney caused the girl’s death, having failed to heed the advice of medical staff on numerous prior occasions or to fill the victim’s insulin prescription, which had last been refilled nearly a full year before the teen died.
Some of that medical advice came September 2021 when the victim was admitted to the hospital for a high blood sugar level. Sweeney was reportedly advised that the victim’s insulin “was not optional.”
Medical professionals said the girl needed the nighttime insulin daily to treat her Type I diabetes. Sweeney would further claim the teen refused to take it, however, as guardian, it was her responsibility to make sure she took it and to make sure the girl attended her medical appointments. The girl had not seen her pediatric endocrinologist, a specialist in diabetes, since that September hospitalization in 2021.
The affidavit also states that Sweeney told medical staff that she herself had diabetes as well and that Sweeney was vehemently advised that if the teen experienced vomiting, she needed to be taken to the hospital.
This is because vomiting is a symptom of diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious and possibly life-threatening complication of diabetes that develops when the body does not have enough insulin to allow the blood sugar supply to be used for cellular energy, causing the liver to break down fat to use as a replacement. This process produces a substance called ketones, which, if produced too quickly, will build up in the body, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The affidavit states Sweeney saw the victim vomiting the day before she died but failed to take her to the hospital.
The coroner found the girl’s cause of death to be hyperosmolar ketoacidosis caused by diabetes, an extreme version of diabetic ketoacidosis in which the blood is also found to have a high concentration of a dissolved solid, such as sodium or glucose, essentially speeding up the rate at which ketones are produced and greatly increasing the odds of patient death.
SLED agents asserted that Sweeney medically neglected the teen, placing her at an “unreasonable risk of harm, that affected her life, physical health and safety.”
Jail records indicate Sweeney was booked into the Al Cannon Detention Center, where she was being held on a $40,000 bond.
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SLED charges Charleston Co. woman in death of diabetic 17-year-old girl
