Coroner: Entwistle Died From Cocaine Use
LONDON (AP) – John Entwistle, bass player of The Who, died from taking cocaine which stopped his heart from beating, a coroner ruled Wednesday.
Entwistle, 57, was found dead in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on June 27, a day before the band was to start a three-month nationwide tour.
The British verdict generally agreed with the analysis of Clark County Coroner Ron Flud, who attributed the death to a combination of cocaine and heart disease. Flud concluded that the cocaine caused a heart attack by constricting Entwistle’s coronary arteries, but British experts thought the drug had fatally interfered with the heart rhythm.
“The amount of cocaine found to be present was not a huge amount but in someone with pre-existing and naturally occurring heart disease it could bring about a fatal stopping in the rhythm of the heart,” said Cheltenham and district coroner Lester Maddrell, who presided at Tewkesbury Magistrates Court in southwestern England.
The British inquest was required because Entwistle’s body was returned to his home country for burial.
Dr. Jeremy Uff, a consultant at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, said all three of Entwistle’s coronary arteries were “very narrow” with one completely blocked, which was consistent with his history of high cholesterol levels and a pack-a-day cigarette habit.
“There was no evidence of a heart attack, just changes in the heart arrhythmia รณ an irregularity in the pumping action of the heart,” Uff said.
Toxicology tests showed no alcohol but two types of cocaine.
Professor Alexander Forrest, of Sheffield University’s department of forensic pathology, said Entwistle had taken cocaine within four hours of his death.
The amount of the drug would not be lethal for a person with a healthy heart, Forrest said. “It is likely that the use of a small amount of cocaine by someone with compromised coronary arteries can be associated with sudden death.”
Categories