On April 6, 1998, country icon Tammy Wynette died in her sleep at 55 years old. She had been plagued by health issues her entire life, culminating in a blood clot in her lung. Her doctor’s original statement claimed that this was what caused her death.
In the year that followed, however, Wynette’s four daughters speculated foul play. They filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit in April 1999, naming Wynette’s doctor, Wallis Marsh, her husband George Richey, and the prescription drug delivery company Care Solutions.
Their suspicions began after they were denied the inheritance their mother left in her will. Control of Wynette’s estate was given to Richey and his brother Carl. Additionally, the information that Wynette left regarding her daughters’ payouts went missing after her death.
George Richey allegedly evaded questions about Wynette’s daughters’ inheritance
In April 1999, Tammy Wynette’s body was exhumed from Nashville’s Woodlawn Memorial Park. In a report from the Davidson County Medical Examiner, M.E. Bruce Levy conducted an autopsy on April 14, along with a toxicology report.
There were traces of sedative and nausea medication in her system. But since the autopsy was done a year later, there was no way to determine if the drugs found in her body caused her death.
Tammy Wynette’s daughters claimed in their lawsuit that their mother died at 55 years old because she had been given too many painkillers. In their opinion, she would have lived much longer, but they felt her doctor hadn’t monitored her health well enough.
Tammy Wynette’s autopsy confirmed the cause of Death After Her Daughters Claim She Was Given Too Many Painkillers
The Medical Examiner, though, confirmed that Wynette died of natural causes. In a report dated May 21, 1999, Levy declared probable cause of death as “Heart failure with cardiac arrhythmia due to chronic pulmonary emboli with pulmonary hypertension.”
Levy also noted that “intestinal dysmotility on chronic pain management” contributed to her death. Essentially, her intestinal tract was negatively affected due to long-term use of pain medication.
In 2002, George Richey was dropped from the lawsuit. Wynette’s daughters also reached a confidential settlement with Dr. Marsh. The claims against Care Solutions were dismissed later that year.
Generally, Wynette’s daughters seemed to get the runaround when it came to their mother’s estate, with many signs pointing to the alleged wrongful death. It’s no wonder they filed the lawsuit. But overall, it turned out that they were simply exploited in the wake of their mother’s unfortunate, but ultimately natural, passing.
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