Donda West Autopsy Report Findings

Posted on January 10, 2008 at 1:26 pm (PST)

The autopsy report on Donda West was released today, but it shows no conclusive evidence as to the cause of her death. There are several factors that make sense however. The report indicates Donda had coronary artery disease with narrowing of her heart arteries. If she had a heart attack caused by a clot, the clot would liquify after her death so an autopsy would not find a clot as evidence. If Donda died soon after the onset of a heart attack, the clot would liquify, and the heart muscle may show no more damage then appears after muscle tissue already shows when it breaks down after the onset of death. Another factor could have been the odd sickle cell like behavior of her erythrocytes, which themselves could have caused problems. Generally after a long difficult surgery, a patient can experience microscopic bleeding, and leaking. The bleeding becomes worse after platelets are exhausted so the person’s blood can no longer clot to stop the microscopic bleeds from the surgical trauma. When a person microscopically bleeds to death in cases where their body has experienced trauma too great for survival, the process is called disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Next the catecholamines become exhausted causing the blood pressure to drop, and eventually leading to death.

Although the autopsy findings did not make a definitive conclusion as to the cause of death, it can be reasonably speculated the cause of death after a complicated and prolonged surgical trauma, was from the a combination of disseminated intravascular coagulation and catecholamine exhaustion. Had Donda been admitted to a hospital after the procedure, the blood work, and other assessments of Donda would have revealed her complications and she might still be alive today.

To read the whole autopsy report click here.