Community Chat

[seaBreeze]

What is the common thread?   Did they all have an alcoholic drink?   Two years ago, Mexico discovered that tainted alcohol caused mysterious deaths of a few, and sickened close to 170.

[cherry]

 I think she was beaten ,and they refused to help her, husband look for her for hrs. They said she was drunk I also thing the slime that own these reosrts ,decided to smear her when she  refused to let if go

I hope she gets every penny she wants. I have seen pictures of her face, and she certainly didn't do that to herself. As far as I am concerned, they are liable and she deserves compensation for pain and suffering,  for the resort making her husband ask on three different occasions  to send out a search party. She could have died waitng for help @Lipstickdiva 

Another man was attacked at the same resort, in the same time frame ,and they also did nothing when he reported it...

[AussieLuvr]

I was at the Club Med that existed in Haiti in 1986. At night we would sit on the patio and have a few cocktails, but never went overboard.

On the third day I woke up sick as could be. Sorry for TMI but I spent the day in the bathroom for multiple reasons. By the fourth day, I had a bronchial thing going on that was SO BAD that I went to the club's doctor.

While standing in line to see the doc, I struck up a conversation with someone also in line and it turned out she was also a doctor and had worked with Doctors Without Borders, or a similar organization. She told me that people are always told "don't drink the water", and while that is good advice - we ingest drinks with ice cubes, eat fruit that has been washed in the local water, and most importantly - the minute we walk into an air-conditioned space we are breathing in the humid air that contains all of the same "yuck".

I was 30 years old then and healthy as could be. I went from healthy to being scary sick in a very short period of time. As soon as I got home I rushed to the doctor and found out I had an extremely nasty bronchial infection and barely escaped hospitalization.

So I have to wonder whether there is some form of bacteria or mold spores being poured into the rooms by the air conditioners.

[cherry]

They might be spraying  for insects ,with some sort of toxin that is dangerous to people, also

[cherry]

Their island getaways went bad in ways that sound similar: crippling stomach cramps, explosive diarrhea and malaise that lasted after they returned home.

But in some ways, they consider themselves lucky. They survived their trips to the Dominican Republic.

As reports of American tourists dying in the country continue to grab headlines, some travelers who fell violently ill tell CNN they wonder whether they may have escaped a worse fate.

More than a dozen reached out to Kaylynn Knull and Tom Schwander, a Colorado couple who were the focus of a CNN story this month, to share their accounts of being sickened. CNN interviewed most of them. Their experiences ranged from what they felt was most likely food poisoning or a virus to what seemed to be dire reactions to chemical contaminants.

Like the Colorado couple, several travelers said they smelled a strange, intense chemical odor in their hotel rooms before getting sick. Knull and Schwander said they were nauseous, drooling uncontrollably, sweating, teary-eyed and experiencing stomach cramps. Their sickness continued for days after they returned home. Their US doctors suspected possible poisoning by a compound found in insecticide, and the couple are now suing the owners of the resort.

Of course, travelers get sick all the time, and it's still not clear whether the deaths or sicknesses are connected. The FBI is assisting with toxicology testing in at least three of the recent American deaths. The bureau is analyzing samples from at least one deceased couple's minibar, according to a Dominican Republic Ministry of Health spokesman.

Dominican officials have called the deaths isolated and have stressed that the country is safe.

'You're not going to die,' he told her

Tina Hammell, from northeastern Ontario, said she was in tears as she read about Knull and her boyfriend.

Hammell, 49, and her husband, John, said they went to a resort in the Grand Bahia chain, Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana, in 2016. They were looking forward to the trip -- a celebration of a successful sales season at a Yamaha dealership they run. On the second day of their trip, they retired to their room for a nap. Tina said she woke under the air conditioning unit in their room. "My throat and nose were on fire," she recalled. "It smelled like paint."

"She jumped up and ran outside, coughing and hacking," John said. He was also overwhelmed. "It stung bad."

Colorado couple: We were sickened at same Dominican Republic resort where 3 Americans died

They called the front desk and a worker showed up to their room, they said, and sprayed what seemed to be a disinfectant. The Hammells demanded another room and there got a decent night's sleep. The next morning, Tina was in bad shape. She was nauseated and covered in sweat, had lost her voice and was increasingly struggling to breathe. The couple tried to take a walk, but she couldn't muster the strength. Chest pains set in.

John and Tina went to the medical office on the property. It was closed, they said. They tried to eat and get some sleep. The following day, Tina was worse. John called for help from their room, demanding that management find a way to take them to another section of the sprawling resort where there was another medical facility.

John broke down as he remembered watching helplessly as his wife's body began convulsing. She buckled into a fetal position and her hands twisted with muscle spasms.

"She kept passing out while I was trying to hold her," he said. "I said, 'You're not going to die. You're not going to die.'"

At the medical center, a doctor managed to revive Tina, John Hammell said, at one point using a defibrillator.

She was transferred to a hospital where she stayed for at least four days and doctors found lesions on her lungs, medical records show. They checked out only because they couldn't miss their flight home, John Hammell said.

Back in Ontario, the couple said, Tina saw doctors who told her that the Dominican Republic physician might have saved her life. But they couldn't figure out what caused her symptoms.

"'You've been poisoned,'" John Hammell recalled physicians saying to his wife, "'but we don't know from what.'"

Tina and John Hammell say Tina fell seriously ill after smelling fumes in their room at the Bahia Principe Punta Cana resort in 2016.

Three years later, the couple says, doctors are treating her for lung and heart problems she said she did not have before her trip to the Dominican Republic, though doctors haven't been able to say for sure what the cause is.

"I had no idea there were other people," she told CNN, weeping.

Hammell has read news in the past month about some of the US tourists who have died or fallen ill. Those include some who stayed at the same resort, such as 51-year-old Yvette Monique Sport of Pennsylvania, whose sister, Felecia Nieves, told CNN that Sport died at the Punta Cana facility in June 2018.

Nieves said her sister had drinks, including a beverage from the minibar, then took a shower and went to bed. Her fiancé found her dead the next day.

A year after Sport's death, her sister said the family still has not been given results of a toxicology test.

Alba Mingo, the head of trade marketing at Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts, declined to comment on specific cases, citing the company's cooperation with authorities in the ongoing inquiry into the incidents.

Mingo said the chain's health and safety policies include "sanitation and disinfectant efforts, strict quality standards for the food and beverage items we serve to our guests and an action plan to respond to any reported cases of illness. ... We regularly audit all hotels in respect to health and safety and consistently receive high certification scores for hygiene."

'I will never go back there'

Elsewhere in Punta Cana, Jake Spruill of Virginia told CNN that he and his family had a terrible vacation at the Majestic Elegance resort in 2017. He, too, described an overwhelming chemical smell in his room.

He and his wife plus two family members and their spouses went to the Dominican Republic to celebrate Spruill's 40th birthday.

When he and his wife opened their room, they were hit by "an incredibly, overpowering smell that I would consider a chemical smell."

His throat and nose felt mildly irritated, he said. They complained to management. "The response was 'We cannot move you. I'm sorry, we can't move you,'" Spruill said.

The couple left to spend time in the resort. When they returned, it smelled like someone had sprayed air freshener to cover the chemical smell. It didn't work.

Dominican tourism minister calls spate of deaths 'exaggerated'

"We decided to avoid the room at all costs," and try to let the air conditioner run, Spruill said. He and his family members "felt a little off." They were drinking, sure, trying to have a good time. But something didn't feel right, he said. His wife started to have gastrointestinal distress. His eyes burned and watered.

Spruill's brother-in-law, Richard Brumfield, said when he went to his room he noticed a smell.

"It was almost like adhesive," he said. "It was extremely noxious."

Brumfield said that when he complained about the chemical smell, the hotel staff put scented candles in his room, which did nothing to help.

Within three days, Brumfield said, he started to feel "deathly ill." He lost his appetite, had horrible stomach cramps and felt exhausted, symptoms that lasted nearly three weeks.

He and Spruill said that they drank a shot of Patron at the resort that did not taste like Patron, and both suspect the alcohol was adulterated.

Neither went to the doctor or ever received a diagnosis. When they got home, they didn't communicate with the resort.

"I will never go back there," Spruill said.

In a written response, Ricardo Espinosa, vice president of sales and marketing for Majestic Elegance, told CNN that "all the bottles used in our hotels, both in our bars and our minibars, are genuine and unadulterated."

Espinosa did not address the smell the men described, but he stressed Majestic Resorts' emphasize hospitality and noted that the hotel has "a very good reputation and image."

Deaths under investigation

Those who came back from vacation to weeks of sickness have had new context for their experience since news of American deaths started to emerge a few weeks ago.

As of last week, Joseph Allen of New Jersey, 55, became at least the ninth U.S. tourist in a little more than a year to die at a Dominican Republic resort, his family said. The cause of his death is unclear.

Leyla Cox, 53, died June 10 in her room at Excellence Resorts in Punta Cana, according to the hotel. A statement from the resort, citing a forensics report, said she suffered a heart attack, but CNN has not independently verified that.

Pennsylvania woman died days before Maryland couple at the same resort in the Dominican Republic

Other deaths include Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49, who were found dead May 30 at Bahia Principe La Romana. Dominican authorities said both suffered internal bleeding, including in their pancreases, and that Holmes had an enlarged heart and cirrhosis of the liver. Day, authorities said, had fluid in her brain. Toxicology reports are pending, and an investigation is underway into the deaths.

Days earlier, Miranda Schaup-Werner died at the same resort. She had a drink from the minibar, felt ill and sometime later collapsed and died. A preliminary autopsy cited by the Dominican Republic's Attorney General's Office said she suffered a heart attack, pulmonary edema and respiratory failure. Her death is also under investigation.

Overall, a U.S. State Department official said, "We have not seen an uptick in the number of U.S. citizen deaths reported to the Department" in the Dominican Republic. The State Department said it is closely monitoring investigations, and that the FBI has said toxicology testing could take up to 30 days.

The department has a standing travel advisory for the Dominican Republic due to crime, but it has not issued an alert related to the resort deaths.

CNN's Bob Ortega, Madeleine Ayer, Rosa Flores, Drew Griffin, Nelli Black and Jake Rosen contributed to this report.

[Lipstickdiva]

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@cherry wrote:

 I think she was beaten ,and they refused to help her, husband look for her for hrs. They said she was drunk I also thing the slime that own these reosrts ,decided to smear her when she  refused to let if go

I hope she gets every penny she wants. I have seen pictures of her face, and she certainly didn't do that to herself. As far as I am concerned, they are liable and she deserves compensation for pain and suffering,  for the resort making her husband ask on three different occasions  to send out a search party. She could have died waitng for help @Lipstickdiva 

Another man was attacked at the same resort, in the same time frame ,and they also did nothing when he reported it...

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@cherry, the resort claimed that she only had a broken fingernail and some other minor facial injury when they found her yet they also claim someone from the resort went to the hospital with her and stayed with her during her entire hospital stay.  If she only had a broken fingernail and other minor facial injury, whey did she need to go to the hospital at all, let alone be hospitalized for days?  And why would someone from the resort stay with her for such minor injuries?  Are they saying the photos of her being so badly beaten were from some other beating she endured, not at this hotel?  

[cherry]

I don't believe that for a minute. One one of the websites it might have been from Canada they warned the tourists this place  PR is known for  crooked lawyers ,and poor  legal systems that are crooked. Lots of scams are run there

The other man that was attacked was concussed for 3 days. He was attacked from behind ,and struck in the head just like this lady was during the same time frame , at the same resort

@Lipstickdiva 

[cherry]

The new attorney for a Delaware woman whose attack at a Dominican Republic resort has cast a shadow on the vacation hot spot says the resort is purposely "misrepresenting" facts in order to "manipulate" the public.

Victoria Kurtz is representing Wilmington, Delaware, resident Tammy Lawrence-Daley, who in May went public to recount what she described as a vicious beating that happened in January at the Majestic Elegance resort in Punta Cana. Since then, the resort and Dominican authorities have questioned Lawrence-Daley's account and intentions.

"I think it's just an attempt to manipulate the public to believe her intention is just to obtain money," Kurtz said in regard to recent statements by Majestic Elegance.

Lawrence-Daley's story came to light following a May 29 Facebook post in which she described being suddenly attacked from behind and brutally beaten for eight hours by someone wearing a resort uniform.

• 3 Deaths, 1 Attack in the Dominican Republic: What We Know

Majestic Elegance maintains that it has "no opinion on the hypothesis of some authorities involved in the investigation," but it recently put out a statement that seemingly minimized the extent of Lawrence-Daley's injuries and said the couple went public only after they were denied $2.2 million in compensation.

Majestic Elegance said Lawrence-Daley had "bruises on her face and had a broken fingernail..."

A photo of Lawrence-Daley taken shortly after the beating shows severe swelling and bruising to her face, two black eyes nearly swollen shut, cuts to her lips and cheeks and a gauze taped to her face.

• Sister of Pa. Woman Who Died in DR Last Year Speaks Out

"I think it's their plea to the public to manipulate the situation, and I find it disrespectful and offensive," Kurtz said, adding that the resort's descriptions also constitute an attempt to "blame the victim" and that Lawrence-Daley had previously remained quiet about her ordeal at the resort's request.

Lawrence-Daley and her husband, Christopher Daley, have accused Dominican authorities of bungling the investigation, going so far as to question the results of a rape kit by saying it was inadequately performed two days after the attack and that it consisted only of an external swab. Lawrence-Daley said she lost consciousness during the attack and does not know whether or not she was sexually assaulted.

The Dominican Republic's Office of the Attorney General said its investigation has been hampered by "incongruent" statements on the part of Daley - a claim Daley described as "crazy" - and by the couple's refusal, in the presence of a U.S. Embassy official, to formally press charges.

• Woman Says She Was Brutally Beaten During Vacation in DR

Daley said he and his wife filed a complaint at a courthouse in the city of Higuey, an account that Kurtz backed up.

"[The filing of a complaint] can be accounted for by multiple witnesses, including a judge who was there and heard the complaint and took the testimony," Kurtz said.

NBC10 reached out to the State Department try to confirm whether an embassy official witnessed Lawrence-Daley and her husband refusing to file charges, but were told only that the department is aware of the case and is communicating with Dominican authorities during the ongoing investigation.

• Husband of Woman Beaten on Vacation Says Police Are Lying

No arrests have been made.

In contention has also been Lawrence-Daley's claim that the resort refused to at least reimburse her for her stay and medical bills. Majestic Elegance said it both paid for her hospital stay and provided a "complementary extension" at the resort.

But Kurtz said that while, "It's appreciated that they paid for her immediate medical needs," the extended stay does not constitute reimbursement.

• Relatives of MD Couple Found Dead in Dominican Hotel Want Answers

Nor, she said, is Majestic Elegance paying for ongoing medical bills or the mental side effects of the attack, for which Daley said both he and his wife are going to therapy.

"Outside of physical injuries, there's also mental recourse that will probably take a lifetime to recover," Kurtz said.

The competing narratives have caused some to question Lawrence-Daley's story, with Majestic Elegance criticizing American media outlets and saying that they "have reported on the story considering her accounts as true and definitive, without listening to the authorities' version, or waiting for a final resolution on the case."

Asked directly if the attack is an elaborate scam by Lawrence-Daley and her husband, Kurtz replied with an "Absolutely not."

"No," she said. "I don't think that I would be spending any ounce of time on this case if that was a possibility."