Reeve was being treated at the hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis.
In the past week the wound had caused a serious systemic infection. His heart failure is understood to have been a direct result of the infection.
People die from these infections. My father had one. Christopher Reeve died from it. If Reeve's infection started the past week, and he died Sunday, there is no way he was talking on the phone Saturday.