Conservative activist Breitbart died of heart failure: coroner

Reuters ^ | 4/20/2012 | Dan Whitcomb

[South40]

(Reuters) - Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart died of heart failure with no prescription or illegal drugs in his system, the Los Angeles County Coroner's officials said on Friday.

There was no significant trauma to the body of Breitbart, who died in March at the age of 43, and foul play was not suspected, a coroner's spokesman said in a written statement.

[lwoodham]

Even if he was whacked and the coroner knew it, he wouldn’t be allowed to state that he was whacked. There is no way in hell that information could go public. It would destroy Obama.

[thecodont]

What sort of evidence would digitalis leave?

[The Wizard]

One of the easier things to fake.....

[LadyDoc]

the tox screen is good...the liberals would have had a fit if he was positive (even false positive) for drugs, and his alcohol level is equivalent to one drink or less.

He had a large heart: I wonder if he had IHSS or a similar cardiomyopathy or a similar problem that is associated with sudden death, or if he just had a problem with high blood pressure...

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[RDAardvark]

All the hallmarks of a CIA like hit.

Really? What case are these "hallmarks" derived from?

[Moonman62]

It’s sort of strange phrasing - someone dying of heart failure should feel sick enough - very weak, unable to breath - that he would call for help.

Heart failure is a drop in efficiency. The heart can compensate by enlargement and a faster beat, so that there are no symptoms. Heart failure can also cause rhythm problems that lead to sudden death, which sometimes is the first symptom.

[ronnie raygun]

foul play was not suspected, to calm the conspiratorialists, ha!

[ronnie raygun]

Someone needs to keep a close eye on the coroner and the coroners’ staff life style and spending habits for the next year or so.

Or maybe they may disappear mysteriously

[ronnie raygun]

Someone needs to keep a close eye on the coroner and the coroners’ staff life style and spending habits for the next year or so.

Or maybe they may disappear mysteriously

Brings to mind 22 navy seals who were involved in the killing of bin laden in a broken down chanook helicoptor flying in a combat zone.

[Hot Tabasco]

Something tells me the local conspiracy theorists aren’t going to be satisfied with these findings.....

[TangoLimaSierra]

correct - that’s my point - and that trauma comment was weird, too, I think

Could have been the trauma from falling down after his heart quit. Who knows?

[wideminded]

What in the world does “no significant trauma” mean??? No trauma I would understand. Does this mean there was some kind of trauma somewhere?

He may have had trauma from falling or from attempts to revive him.

[LadyDoc]

In another post I said the autopsy showed a large thick heart muscle aka "Hypertrophy" andI wondered if he had a congenital syndrome that caused his death....

and now the autopsy says he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (large heart)...and some hardening of the arteries.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is associated with sudden death. LINK from wikipedia:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disease of the myocardium (the muscle of the heart) in which a portion of the myocardium is hypertrophied (thickened) without any obvious cause.

It is perhaps most well known as a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.

we docs sometimes pick up a large heart on a routine x ray or EKG and pick it up, but usually you don't figure out what's wrong until the autopsy, alas...unless they have had a family member drop dead and then you try to screen for it...

so when liberals laugh and say he was fat and didn't take care of himself, put this link in the comments

[LadyDoc]

It may not have been "heart failure" or a "heart attack" but sudden cardiac death from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. See my post below. link

[calex59]

Yes, I have indeed heard of a myocardial infarction aka “heart attack.” If that is what Breitbart died from, then that should have been the cause of death, not “heart failure.”

There is also a little thing called "sudden arrhythmic death syndrome" and another called "sudden death syndrome" both due to a sudden cessation of the hearth rhythm. People just suddenly die. COT, better known as crib death, is thought to be a form of "sudden arrhythmic death syndrome". It is just not that unusual for people to fall over dead from the very young to very old.

It is usually referred to as Heart failure, because, quite simply, that is what happens, the heart just stops beating.

It is usually very difficult to determine the cause of death in such cases.

[MinuteGal]

My uncle, a physician, was sitting in his easy chair after dinner having a cup of coffee and watching the news. My aunt, cleaning up in the kitchen, heard a noise and went into the the front room.

He was slumped in the chair and already dead from a heart attack. It was that fast. Her resuscitation efforts and quickly-arriving paramedics could not revive him.

Leni

[gzzimlich]

Andrew had a prior MI, apparently a major one, one of the consequences of which is often some scarring on the anterior wall (where the hearts electrical system is).

This is bad in two ways: the obvious, the heart muscle itself is damaged and weaked, and the not so obvious, they create foci for arrhythmias that can be nearly instantaneously fatal in an already damaged heart.

This is one of the reasons post-MI patients are given beta-blockers. They lower blood pressure and do a few other good things, but they’re also powerful anti-arrhythmics, ease the overall load on the heart and make it less likely for ventricular fibrillation (sudden death) to occour.

Sounds to me like Andrew lived life on the edge and wasn’t the most compliant heart patient.

Unfortunately those things can be suddenly fatal in a man with his problems.

[jimfree]

I interpret “no significant trauma” as meaning there was a bit of trauma, but nothing more than would happen to someone collapsing on pavement.

[WashingtonSource]

Sorry but I can’t believe the coroner was not politically influenced. He could have died of heart failure induced by an outside substance that was not traceable, for starters.