BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- The death certificate of John L. Duncan appears ordinary -- until you read the last few lines.
Those last bits of information reveal that Mr. Duncan, 37, died from injuries he suffered in a car wreck -- one that happened more than two years ago.
"I wouldn't say this is usual, but we have seen it happen," said Dr. Richard P. Burkhardt, Butler County coroner, who ruled Tuesday on the cause of Mr. Duncan's death June 8. "Not everyone who dies from an auto accident dies right then."
Mr. Duncan died from inadequate blood flow to his brain, Dr. Burkhardt said, as a result of a seizure disorder he began suffering after an automobile crash March 24, 1996.
That night, Mr. Duncan was a passenger in a car that was struck at Eaton and Rhea avenues.
The crash wasn't serious, remembers his sister, Mary Bowman of Oxford. But Mr. Duncan fell out of the car and struck his head -- an injury that caused a seizure and required brain surgery.
Ms. Bowman said her brother, who had no previous history of seizures, was never the same again.
"He never really regained all of his strength," she said. Also, he suffered periods of "lost time" or blackouts. At first, his family didn't know that those blackouts were probably symptoms of more seizures, Ms. Bowman said.
Mr. Duncan tried to return to his job as a lawn care technician, but was fired. Family members think his dismissal was related to his medical problems.
On Jan. 3, 1997, Mr. Duncan drove his vehicle into a parked car on Providence Drive in Butler County's Union Township. Doctors said the accident probably happened because Mr. Duncan suffered a seizure, Ms. Bowman said.
Another seizure apparently struck April 27, 1997, when Mr. Duncan's pre-teen son found him prone on his waterbed, unresponsive. Mr. Duncan went into a coma. His family put him in a nursing home, where they thought he'd have the best chance of recovery, "but it wasn't to be," Ms. Bowman said.
For more than a year, Mr. Duncan remained comatose. Then he died last month at Fort Hamilton-Hughes Memorial Hospital -- three blocks from the original accident scene.
Now that Dr. Burkhardt has made a ruling in Mr. Duncan's case, he will present it to County Prosecutor John Holcomb for review. Mr. Holcomb will consider whether the driver in the original accident could be charged in Mr. Duncan's death, Dr. Burkhardt said. Mr. Holcomb did not return a telephone call.
Mr. Duncan's family members don't want charges filed against the driver, Ms. Bowman said.
The driver attended Mr. Duncan's funeral last month, Ms. Bowman said, adding, "It's been really hard on her."
