both found ethylene glycol in ryan s system. and the autopsy revealed calcium oxalate crystals in ryan s brian, consistent with ethylene glycol poisoning. tests on ryan s baby bottle also found trace amounts of ethylene glycol. everyone was saying there was ethylene glycol in the body. tests from different laboratories showed that. and everyone agreed if there s ethylene glycol in the body, it wasn t mma that killed the child. so the murder case against patricia stallings went to trial. prosecutors were seeking the death penalty. despite the genetic illness diagnosed in d.j., patricia stallings defense attorney could not produce one medical expert to testify that it was mma and not antifreeze poisoning that caused ryan s death. i put on my witnesses. all of them said ethylene glycol. all of them said it had to be ingested.
for ethylene glycol. but we knew the only thing in those samples was propionic acid. when dr. shoemaker examined the graph shown to the jury during patricia stallings trial, one showing the ethylene glycol found in ryan s blood, and next to it a graph of a known sample of ethylene glycol, he discovered a huge mistake. but the tragic thing is that no one bothered to actually superimpose the two like this. and when you look at it very closely and line up the injection point here and the internal standard here, the two peaks are actually quite different. and you move them up here so you can see. they don t come out at the same time at all. the retention times are actually very different. dr. shoemaker suspected that ryan stallings died of mma and had not been poisoned with ethylene glycol.
do it myself. first, dr. shoemaker turned his attention to gas chromatography used to test ryan s blood. in gas chromatography the sample is vaperized and sent down a tube with an inert gas. each compound settles in the tube at a different rate, which is called the retention time. those retention times are then charted on a graph. a reference library of retention times is then consulted in order to identify any compounds found in the blood. medical experts who testified against patricia stallings said that the peak on the graph of ryan s blood serum appeared at a retention time that matched that of ethylene glycol. dr. shoemaker retested ryan s blood samples, and analyzed the retention times. he didn t find ethylene glycol. he found something else.
of ethylene glycol when the bottle was tested. the conviction of patricia stallings had been a mistake. oh, wow. if d.j. hadn t been born, patty stallings would be in jail for the rest of her life without parole and no one would have ever raised a second question. patricia stallings filed lawsuits against the hospitals doctors and laboratories that had misdiagnosed ryan. all were settled before going to trial. their son d.j., who by being born with mma, led scientists to the real killer of his brother ryan, is managing his disease with a special diet and other treatments. it is strange that such a small mistake on paper could make such a huge change in the lives of people. but in this case, you can see that a few millimeters of difference in where a peak appeared on a sheet of paper made all the difference in a
and ethanol given intravenously to counteract the effects of the ethylene glycol. one week later, ryan stallings died. the charge against patricia stallings now was murder. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. isn t it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it s a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla s prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don t take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss.