Karen McCarron was lucid, doctors say

Katherine McCarron died a year ago, on May 13th, 2006. Her mother, Dr. Karen McCarron, is alleged to have suffocated her daughter and to have attempted to overdose on Tylenol the next day; McCarron told police that she “‘wanted to end her pain and Katie’s pain.” She is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death. According to testimony reported in the May 15th Peoria Journal-Star, McCarron appeared to be lucid and not delusional during a hospital stay from May 14 – May 16, 2006.

Contradicting her apparent suicide attempt, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center doctors said McCarron, a doctor herself, was very concerned about her medical status. St. Francis medical resident Zachary Young, who treated McCarron, said she asked to view her medical records and whether she would need to see a liver specialist. She also specified the hospital she wanted to be transferred to if a transplant was necessary.

McCarron did not discuss specifically why she tried to overdose.

“She said she had issues going on at home,” Young said.

Medication administered to stop the breakdown of Tylenol helped prevent long-term damage. Side effects of a Tylenol overdose can include nausea, vomiting and possible liver failure.

Young said McCarron requested several times to speak to a psychiatrist. He told prosecutors when he spoke with her, she was lucid, coherent and did not appear to have lost touch with reality.

With the psychiatrist, McCarron discussed her daughter’s struggles with autism.

“She said she and her husband tried very hard to help her daughter,” said Dr. Sohee Lee.

McCarron then admitted to Lee that she put a garbage bag over her daughter’s head.

Lee said though McCarron seemed “pre-occupied” and was “sobbing” during his visit, she was not delusional and knew where she was.

McCarron as been in a mental treatment facility in Springfield, Illinois since June 2006.