Months after beloved hip-hop icon Earl “DMX” Simmon’s April passing, his official cause of death has been revealed: The rapper died from a cocaine-induced heart attack which cut off blood flow to his brain.
There has been much speculation about a drug overdose or it being caused by liver failure, but the medical examiner cleared the air and gave this official statement.
“It was cardiac arrest for a period of time,
so there was no circulation to the brain,”
a source from the Westchester County medical examiner’s office told Vulture. The lethal series of events was caused by acute cocaine intoxication, the source added.
“His death literally happened immediately because the brain was dead,”
the source noted. “So obviously, there were a number of days where he was on ventilatory support and so forth in the hospital . . . However, he was diagnosed brain-dead early on . . . He never woke up from [a] coma.”
Soon after the legendary “Ruff Ryders” emcee was hospitalized on April 2, his family revealed he was in a “vegetative state” following a drug overdose-induced heart attack.
An identified person close to the rapper expressed that DMX was brain dead due to a drug overdose.
“His death literally happened immediately because the brain was dead,” explained the source. “So obviously, there were a number of days where he was on ventilatory support and so forth in the hospital. However, he was diagnosed brain-dead early on…He never woke up from [a coma].
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The source shared that on April 2 someone had called 911 for help just after 10:03 p.m. Paramedics arrived on the scene at 10:09 p.m., and proceeded to perform a cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the rapper which began at 10:10 p.m and went on for 30-40 minutes while they transferred him from his home to the White Plains hospital where he spent his final days.
While many heart attack victims recover and resume their normal lives, others have to deal with lingering physical effects, such as changes in the brain. Specifically, heart attacks and other forms of heart failure can cause a loss of gray matter in the brain, and a decline in mental processes.
After three minutes, global cerebral ischemia (the lack of blood flow to the entire brain) can lead to progressively worsening brain injury. By nine minutes, severe and irreversible brain damage is likely. After 10 minutes, the chances of survival are low.
Even if a person is resuscitated, eight out of every 10 will be comatose and sustain some level of brain damage. Simply put, the longer the brain is deprived of oxygen, the worse the damage will be.
Simmons passed away at the age of 50 on April 9. His memorial service was held on April 24 at the Barclays Center, where countless friends, family, musicians who looked up to
