Woman Dies Inside McDonald's Bathroom

A woman died after she was discovered unresponsive in a McDonald's bathroom and could not be revived by emergency first responders.

Although an autopsy has yet to confirm the cause of death, authorities believe she most likely suffered a drug overdose at the fast-food chain in Gaines Township, Michigan, south of Grand Rapids, on Saturday afternoon. They have not specified which type of drug they believe she ingested.

Drugs, and particularly fentanyl, have been ravaging communities in recent years. Deaths from fentanyl overdoses have been found to have increased by 279 percent in the U.S. between 2016 and 2021.

The rate of deaths involving fentanyl more than tripled, increasing from 5.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016 to 21.6 in 2021, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 3.

Cities such as San Francisco have been gripped by the crisis, which saw workers this year urged to stay home over drug crime fears, while in New York a toddler died after being exposed to fentanyl at a Bronx daycare facility earlier this month.

The woman who died in Michigan at the weekend has not yet been named by authorities, although the Kent County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) said she was aged 42 and from Lowell, around 20 miles away.

Deputies were called to the McDonald's on Kalamazoo Avenue near 60th Street following reports the woman had been found in the restaurant's bathroom and the deputies began CPR upon their arrival. Ambulance and fire crew paramedics also arrived at the scene and administered two doses of Narcan, which is used to combat drug overdoses. But the woman was declared dead a short time later.

A statement posted on the KCSO's Facebook page said: "The initial investigation finds the event may have been a drug overdose death. Official results will be pending an autopsy by the Medical Examiner's Office[...]Our investigators are continuing to investigate the case and work with the family through this difficult time."

Newsweek has reached out to the KCSO for further information and comment.

The statement went on to lay bare the extent of drug addiction within the community.

Kent County has suffered 50 overdoses so far in 2023, the KCSO reported, with 10 of them proving fatal and prompting investigations by the Kent Area Narcotics Team.

Last year, the KCSO responded to 104 overdoses which involved 16 deaths. It means there is "one drug overdose every 3.5 days on average in KCSO's service area," the statement said.

"You are not alone in your addiction or the loss of loved ones from it," the Sheriff's Office statement added, urging those affected to seek help with local organizations.

The Gaines Township death at the weekend comes just months after another woman died after being found unresponsive at a McDonald's restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama. Her cause of death was unknown.