[Naderfan]

wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or not, but apparently Brittany Murphy died this morning. Cardiac arrest at 32...

http://www.tmz.com/2009/12/20/britta...ardiac-arrest/

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Wow, that sucks. I loved her work in "Spun".

[ezkcdude]

Yeah, that's really sad. RIP. I wonder if she was anorexic.

[DMBand0026]

Cocaine. I'm not saying she was, but if she really died of sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 32 it was either a congenital defect that somehow was never detected or she was a cocaine user. Seriously, there are no other explanations.

Whatever happened, RIP Brittany.

[drewprops]

I really don't know this actress, but it's sad.

[Eugene]

Some kind of drug, not necessarily cocaine. Hell, could be Lipitor for all we know, but I'll be damned if the autopsy doesn't confirm it as an OD.

[DMBand0026]

Lipitor doesn't cause a 32 year old heart to deteriorate to the point where it can't work anymore. Cocaine does. Congenital defect or cocaine.

[psmith2.0]

I always thought she was quite cute and had a great voice. I liked her in "Sin City".

[thegeriatric]

Never heard of her, until now, but so young such a shame.

R.I.P.

[709]

Never caught her in a film besides Sin City, but constantly saw her name in the King of the Hill credits (she voiced Luanne, I believe).

Pretty young to be checking out so early. 2009's certainly been a bitch.

[psmith2.0]

Oh, yeah...I forgot all about her "King of the Hill" role!

[DMBand0026]

Sin City is one of my favorite films and she did a wonderful job in it. I didn't see her in anything else, but it's sad to see her go. 32 is young, it's really too bad.

[alcimedes]

Kind of brings it home, since that's pretty much my age. I liked her in Sin City, not sure I ever saw her in anything else.

Way too young for someone to die of a heart attack though.

[Brad]

(Thread split/merge.)

[Noel]

(Psst, it's "Brittany Murphy".)

[Brad]

Blame alc for misspelling it in his duplicate thread!

Fixed.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

Originally Posted by DMBand0026 Cocaine. I'm not saying she was, but if she really died of sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 32 it was either a congenital defect that somehow was never detected or she was a cocaine user. Seriously, there are no other explanations. Whatever happened, RIP Brittany.

RIP.

But yes, cocaine, I'd warrant, or crystal. A few years of cocaine isn't very good for the heart. Many young people in Britain end up in Casualty on a Friday night with heart attacks just binging.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Crack's even worse. My wife has seen 18 year olds showing up in the OR with 70 year old hearts.

[billybobsky]

i am not so willing to jump on the drug band wagon...

there are a lot of causes of death at any age. heart attacks, aneurysm, stroke, cancer.... none of these requires excessive drug use...

[thegelding]

since she is a hollywood actress....the likely causes are

1) drugs

2) anorexic

3) congenital heart disease

4) other (electric shock, toxic issues, etc)

add sleazy husband or wife for hollywood too...of course sleazy husband and wife can be a universal cause of death just about anywhere...sadly


in the general populations a 32 year old dying suddenly of heart failure would be:

1) drugs

2) congenital heart disease

3) anorexia

4) other

so really not much difference....anorexia is a problem everywhere, buy hollywood more than others

anorexia leads to bradycardia and irregular heart rhythm...heart failure is the common demise of most anorexia patients, sadly...


too bad, i didn't know her at all, but she seemed like a nice person from what others have said...

g

[torifile]

I'd chalk it up to anorexia. It's the only mental disorder that will kill you if left untreated. And from some of the photos I've seen, she looks like she's quite underweight.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by torifile I'd chalk it up to anorexia. It's the only mental disorder that will kill you if left untreated. And from some of the photos I've seen, she looks like she's quite underweight.

[Naderfan]

The AP is reporting the initial cause of death is "natural causes" but no specifics on that.

[DMBand0026]

Autopsy won't be performed until sometime this week and they won't release an official cause of death until tox reports come back. It'll be a few weeks before we know.

Technically everyone dies of "natural causes." Your heart stops, you're dead...naturally. You get shot, you bleed out, your heart stops, you're dead...naturally.

Again, 32 year olds don't die of "natural causes" very often. Unless there was a congenital defect, it's cocaine.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by DMBand0026 Autopsy won't be performed until sometime this week and they won't release an official cause of death until tox reports come back. It'll be a few weeks before we know. Technically everyone dies of "natural causes." Your heart stops, you're dead...naturally. You get shot, you bleed out, your heart stops, you're dead...naturally. Again, 32 year olds don't die of "natural causes" very often. Unless there was a congenital defect, it's cocaine.

Or anorexia. Eating disorders generally can cause all sort of heart problems. Your heart quits getting what it needs because you're not eating, and it'll stop. No matter how old you are.

[psmith2.0]

What about combination of several things, all factoring in? Drug use (past or present), possible anorexia (she's looked horribly thin in many photos), prescription drugs (those got Heath and Michael) and some sort of defect (like John Ritter had).

Any one of those things could do it, but maybe one led to the other (if her body was weakened by anorexia or something, and the other things piled on).

Sure seems odd. I know "it happens" (dying young, out of the blue), but as others have said above, you have to reasonably expect/assume other stuff. She might be a rare case in young Hollywood where drugs of some sort (prescription or otherwise) didn't play a role, but I'll be surprised.

We learned from Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson that "drugs" don't have to automatically mean cocaine, meth, heroin, etc. She could've been taking "legit" stuff for physical or psychological reasons and overdid it? Or mixed some together that shouldn't have been?

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by DMBand0026 Again, 32 year olds don't die of "natural causes" very often. Unless there was a congenital defect, it's cocaine.

When you say "cocaine", it seems that it was not an overdose (that would've been obvious and she was apparently taking a shower, not snorting up on her coffee table), so are you suggesting it is somehow "cumulative effects" of her taking cocaine over a long period of time? That seems unusual, as well. Most people who die from cocaine, die from acute overdose. At least, that's my understanding. Can you clarify?

[psmith2.0]

I'm not saying this happened, but couldn't it be possible that someone could do such a thing in the bathroom (or are coffee tables in the living room the only suitable place to do cocaine?) perhaps on the sink or whatever, stepped into the shower and then collapsed?

Forgive my ignorance on the mechanics/process of overdosing, as I don't partake and have no real-life experience in the field.

But I assume plenty of folks have done drugs and then got into trouble (OD symptoms, cardiac arrest, etc.) minutes later, in the same room, while engaging in a second, separate activity (showering, cooking, working in the garage, watching TV, having sex, etc.)?

"Taking a shower" can't possibly rule out the possibility of drugs being done at some earlier point.

[ezkcdude]

Yeah, maybe that's possible, too.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

Originally Posted by ezkcdude When you say "cocaine", it seems that it was not an overdose (that would've been obvious and she was apparently taking a shower, not snorting up on her coffee table), so are you suggesting it is somehow "cumulative effects" of her taking cocaine over a long period of time? That seems unusual, as well. Most people who die from cocaine, die from acute overdose. At least, that's my understanding. Can you clarify?

Cumulative use of coke and crystal are really bad for your heart.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...icineandhealth

Especially crystal, I'd expect, which hits you harder and lasts longer. Imagine if your heart's going as if you're running for seven hours... I suspect that one all-nighter and a bit of a Wednesday pick-me-up a week might be enough to really do some damage after a few months. And people do a lot more than that.