MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: What's missing from the list...

> http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2...n/#6411e72954f5

Thanks. That's pretty much what I expected:

> Don’t Blame Cocaine

> In stories about Fisher’s death, media outlets have widely
> noted that she had a history of illicit drug use, including
> cocaine. This has fueled speculation that the drugs played
> a key role in her heart attack.

> But that’s highly unlikely, said Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz,
> medical director of the Women’s Heart Center at Cedars
> Sinai in Los Angeles. “Drugs and alcohol are not risk
> factors for heart attacks with a few exceptions: young
> people who are doing a lot of cocaine, or the freebasing;
> while doing that, they can have a coronary spasm and a
> heart attack and die,” she said. “That was not Carrie.”
> (Bairey Merz has no personal knowledge of Fisher's
> health, she acknowledged.)

So, yeah - while the doctor in question might not have known Fisher's health personally, I find it to be in reprehensibly bad taste to start casting aspersions on a dead woman's habits, especially considering how lucrative "coming forward" with a "first-hand account" would be for just about any jackass trying to make a buck.

Unless someone takes the "once an addict, always an addict" attitude towards things - which I can understand - suggesting that "she was an addict up to her death" just comes off as trying to smear a dead person, because after all, corpses can't defend themselves. Absolutely ghoulish, and the people responsible should be ashamed of themselves. But then again, shame seems to be both desperately needed and in rather short supply among many of the people who post here.