It’s not even a day yet and questions are swirling. What could cause a 32-year-old woman to suddenly die, apparently of cardiac arrest? Diabetes? Was there an eating disorder? Drug use? A congenital heart problem?
It doesn’t seem possible, does it, that a young person’s death from cardiac arrest could ever be “natural,” does it? But after Murphy collapsed in her bathroom Sunday morning and later was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Ed Winter, an assistant chief coroner in Los Angeles County, told The Associated Press that the cause of death “appears to be natural.” Foul play has been ruled out.
There will still be an autopsy and an official cause of death, but the latter may not be released for some time. And apparently a close friend of Murphy's said she had asthma and type 2 diabetes,
From the New York Times:
“The actress’s wide brown eyes and unrestrained, asymmetrical smile made her a frequent choice for the role of ditz with an edge — such as the urban transplant to a Beverly Hills high school in “Clueless” and the riches-to-rags au pair in “Uptown Girls” — or a woman over the edge, playing characters with severe mental illness in the thriller “Don’t Say a Word” and the drama “Girl, Interrupted.”
What can cause sudden cardiac arrest in such a young person? Here’s an explanation from Emaxhealth:
“In people who have a normal, healthy heart, causes of sudden cardiac arrest can include an electrical shock, trauma to the chest, or use of illegal drugs. In most cases, however, the event occurs in a person who has a pre-existing heart condition, even if he or she is not aware of the condition. These include:
Coronary artery disease. More than 80 percent of people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest have coronary artery disease.
• Heart attack: If an individual has a heart attack that is the result of severe coronary artery disease, it may trigger ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest.
• Congenital heart disease. When sudden cardiac arrest occurs in young people (age 35 and younger), it is often due to congenital heart disease. Among young athletes, a genetic disorder called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest. It is believed to be brought on by vigorous exercise.
• Enlarged heart. In these cases, the heart’s muscle is abnormal, which can lead to tissue damage and arrhythmias.
• Valvular heart disease. If there are leaky or narrow heart valves, they can cause the heart muscle to stretch or thicken. These events can increase the risk of arrhythmias.
• Electrophysiological abnormalities. Some people have a malfunction in their heart’s electrical system. Examples of these primary heart rhythm problems include primary ventricular fibrillation, long QT syndrome, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.”
In one interview in 2001, Murphy apparently commented to her interviewer that she had had a heart condition since she was young. The website LaLate quotes from an email with that interviewer, Michael Adams, from a conversation publicizing the movie “Sidewalks of New York” in 2001.
The New York Times story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/movies/21murphy.html
An EmpowHER post on the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest:
https://www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2008/12/16/michaela-gagne-sudden-cardiac-arrest-vs-heart-attack-there-difference
Our EmpowHER Encyclopedia page on cardiac arrest, especially in women:
https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/cardiac-arrest#definition
The Emaxhealth article:
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/80/34863/sudden-cardiac-arrest-common-misunderstood.html
The LaLate article:
http://news.lalate.com/2009/12/21/brittany-murphy-had-heart-condition/