A mother cleaning up her Cambria County home after the suspected overdose of her son is believed to have overdosed herself.
Officials believe she didn’t use the drugs – they think she accidentally touched something so strong it killed her.
Like any good mother, Dorothy Plummer stayed at her son's bedside in intensive care as doctors treated him for a suspected overdose.
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The 69-year-old woman found her son, Ronald, passed out in the bathroom of his home. After he was hospitalized, she wanted to help him in some way so she went back to clean up the bathroom.
She may not have known that she was putting herself in danger.
The coroner believes Plummer likely absorbed a substance through her skin or had some sort of reaction to drug paraphernalia after handling it.
She began having shortness of breath and was taken to the hospital, where she died Nov. 6.
Her son died the next day.
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The coroner says this double tragedy is a warning to every family with loved ones dealing with addiction.
"Again this is a caution for safety, for anyone coming into contact with any type of powder substance,” Jeff Lees said. “You should use extreme caution and notify the proper authorities."
Authorities couldn’t immediately identify the drugs involved in this case. Toxicology results for the Plummers won't be back for another six to eight weeks.