HOLLIDAYSBURG - A Blair County Prison inmate died April 15 from coronary artery disease, the Blair County coroner's office has ruled.
It was a "natural death," said Cindy DiAndrea, deputy coroner/secretary of the county office.
The inmate, John Rauch, 52, the owner of John's Sports Bar at 310 S. Kettle St., was being held in the jail while awaiting transfer to a state correctional institution to serve a minimum of 45 months.
Rauch's wife, Mary Ann, could not comment on the findings Wednesday because she said she hadn't received a report on the autopsy. John Rauch was among several Blair and Cambria county suspects arrested as part of an investigation that broke up the Brian Pfister drug ring.
Rauch suffered from many medical conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure, his wife said.
She said she visited her husband in jail on April 14, and he was trembling and extremely tired, to the point he cut the visit short. Prison officials found him dead in his cell at about 3 a.m. April 15.
Mary Ann Rauch maintained that her husband was not properly receiving his insulin and questioned the medical care he was receiving.
An initial autopsy by Dr. Harry Kamerow, a forensic pathologist, was unable to pinpoint the cause of death so the coroner's office requested a toxicology test.
The completed autopsy report indicated that Rauch's diabetes was not a factor in his death, DiAndrea said.
Rauch had a 90 percent obstruction of his right coronary artery.
"His heart just gave out," DiAndrea said.
Medical care at the county jail is provided by Prime Care Medical Inc. of Harrisburg, a firm that provides care to several Pennsylvania correctional facilities.
Coroner Patricia Ross said in April that she couldn't find any fault with Rauch's medical treatment.
A death in any of the facilities which receive Prime Care services triggers a review to determine if changes are required, and that review was being done in the Blair County case, a Prime Care spokesman said in April.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.
