The tragic death of Brittany Murphy

Authorities said Monday that it appeared that actress Brittany Murphy died of natural causes after becoming ill with flu-like symptoms in the days before she collapsed in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home.

Celebrity Web site TMZ is reporting there were "large amounts of prescription medications" on the nightstand when paramedics arrived at her Hollywood home, and that Murphy was "complaining of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pain" in the week before she died.

"She always denied any relationship to drugs," US Weekly Entertainment Director Dena Sansing told CBS News. "She said she had never tried it. She said the strongest thing was Sudafed -- it wasn't her thing."

But at least one leading pathologist told "The Early Show" he'd bet a lethal combination of prescription drugs was involved. Dr. Cyril Wecht told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Tuesday, that if Brittany died of natural causes, it was probably some kind of a congenital heart condition. But in such cases, the patient will usually be aware of the condition and have a medical history relating to it.

"When you have a 32-year-old person dying suddenly, and especially a celebrity in Los Angeles, you can place your bet down that it's going to prove to be a case of acute combined drug toxicity. And I bet you that this young lady tragically died in the same way that Michael Jackson did, and Anna Nicole Smith did, and her son Daniel Smith did, and Heath Ledger did -- a combination of drugs that had been prescribed for her, prescribed for her husband, for her mother, in some fictitious names, probably by doctors who are very, very quick to make available anything that celebrities want, sometimes using knowingly fictitious names."

"So, even though these drugs are, quote, legal, unquote, they are, many times, illegally obtained. And it's a tragedy. And it's being played out everywhere in America every day, and we only come to know about it when it involves celebrities."

What leads Wecht to conclude drugs were involved here? "I am aware of some of the drugs that were found. One of them was a drug that was involved with Michael Jackson, Ativan. One of them was a drug that was involved with Anna Nicole Smith, Klonopin. Two of the drugs are pain relievers, Hydrocodone, which we frequently see in these cases, and Vicoprofen, a form of Vicodin. So, I guarantee you that, if the pathologists at the Los Angeles coroner's office had found something dramatic, like a heart attack, like a stroke, or like something of a definitive nature, we would have heard about it. The fact that they say that they're going to wait for toxicology tests and it will take a couple of months, you can be sure that this is going to prove to be a case of acute combined drug toxicity. A tragedy."

Officially, Assistant Chief Los Angles County Coroner Ed Winter said to reporters that an autopsy had been conducted and officials were awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue testing before determining an official cause of death. It could take up to six weeks before a determination is made public.

Dr. Cinque's comments: I have long been a fan of Dr. Cyril Wecht because after the Kennedy assassination, he spoke the truth about the President's wounds and refused to buckle even when doctors were being pressured and harrassed to support the official story. And he has stuck to his guns all these years. And I was a fan of Brittany Murphy too. I thought she was a very talented and versatile young actress. I feel very sorry for her and her family. But, I think it's important to release accurate information about how she died. People should not be led to think that seemingly normal 32 year olds can suddenly die of cardiac arrest.

If Brittany had a heart attack, that is, a myocardial infarction due to coronary occlusion, then the autopsy would surely reveal it. But nobody seems to suspect that. Heart attacks are very rare in people that young, and when they do occur, it's more often in young males. And in the rare cases involving young females, obesity is usually a factor (as was true of Mamma Cass). Brittany Murphy was very thin.

Dr. Wecht referred to congenital heart conditions where there is a transmission problem, where the electrical conduction is impaired. But in that case, it would have been discovered long before she reached the age of 32.

When you consider that they found on her night-stand strong benzodiazepine tranquilizers, the strong narcotic hydrocodone, plus other strong drugs, it certainly had the potential to be a deadly cocktail. Plus, think about how tiny she was. She may have taken an amount that a much larger person could have tolerated, or at least survived.

Dr. Wecht makes a good point that we become aware of this when a celebrity dies, but it's actually commonplace in America for people to die of prescription drug poisoning. It happens every day. There are plenty of people, mostly ordinary people, who are flirting with this kind of disaster as we speak. And ironically, the risk of dying from prescription drugs appears to be greater than the risk of dying from illicit drugs. I have heard Congressman Ron Paul say that, and he is a medical doctor..............
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