Mom warning others after son's cause of death listed as vaping | Investigation

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) -- The dangers and consequences of vaping are growing as more research is conducted.

The sudden death of a Berks County man late last year led a forensic pathologist to list it as one of the causes of his death.

Determining the cause of death from vaping is somewhat rare and usually involves severe respiratory illness in the victim.

But not in the case of Danny Clark, after that pathologist listed the 34-year-old's death as a heart attack caused by nicotine intoxication.

"Danny was 34 years old, otherwise very healthy," said his mother, Cindi Clark, of West Chester. "He went to bed on a Wednesday night and didn't wake up."

Danny's sudden death in December is still raw for his mom. Initially, she said the family had no answers.

"It was an unexplained death, and all they could tell me at the time was that they had done a quick toxicology and didn't see anything wrong," she said.

"It was a puzzle. Our first toxicology studies didn't tell us much," said Dr. Neil Hoffman with the Berks County Coroner's Office.

Dr. Hoffman said Danny had no drugs and only a limited amount of alcohol in his system.

"He had been out with his girlfriend and friends and appeared to be drunk," explained Cindi. "He had slurred speech, his coordination was off, he felt sick to his stomach, although there was not any excessive drinking."

Upon learning Danny vaped and hearing his symptoms the night before his death, Dr. Hoffman wanted to dig further and ordered testing of his nicotine levels.

"I got the results back of the nicotine level, and I said, 'This was high.' Probably twice to three times what a normal heavy cigarette user would have," he noted.

He said Danny died from an arrhythmia, which was caused by vaping. It was a startling finding for Dr. Hoffman, who's been a pathologist for five decades.

"It's my first, I've never seen anything exactly like it," he said.

Danny's mom told the Action News Investigative Team that for the past year, he had been doing a lot of vaping in an effort to quit his pack-a-day cigarette habit. But there was one very important issue: he was vaping a 50mg pen, which Dr. Hoffman said is an extremely high level of nicotine. Most pens range from 3 to 20 milligrams.

"He was vaping every ten minutes, and perhaps that he was also using large amounts in each vaping container," said Dr. Hoffman.

Dr. Robert Bassett, of the Philadelphia Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, says nicotine poisoning reports are up 21% since 2021, with 436 reports last year. "We get a lot of calls. In fact, it continues to be an emerging public health crisis."

Dr. Bassett said three-quarters of those involved are children younger than 6.

In New Jersey, reports are up 35% during that same time, with e-cigarette poisonings up 270%.

But, Dr. Bassett said these numbers only reflect a fraction of the problem since his office only gets called in extreme cases. And currently, doctors don't know what a lethal dose of nicotine is, especially when using high-dose pens.

"These liquid concentrations are increasingly dangerous because of the super, super high concentrations," said Dr. Bassett.

Cindi Clark said she hopes telling Danny's story gives some pause before picking up a vape pen.

"Even if there is one person that stops, one person that gets a better understanding, I think it honors Danny," she said.