Source: Yahoo News
NEW YORK (AFP) - A medical examiner's report into the death of Dr. Robert Atkins, whose diet has catapulted fat into fashion, indicated he had a history of heart failure, a US newspaper said.
The New York medical examiner's report into Atkins's death said he had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension, the Wall Street Journal said.
Atkins weighed 258 pounds (117 kilograms) when he slipped on ice while walking to work in April of last year, the paper said.
Death was due to a "blunt impact injury of the head," according to the examiner's report, which was sent to the paper by a pro-vegetarian group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Atkins followed his own low-carbohydrate dietary advice, leading to scrutiny of his health, the paper said.
But Stuart Trager, chairman of the Atkins Physicians Council in New York, told the paper that Atkins's medical records showed his heart problems were related to "cardiomyopathy," probably due to a virus.
"He had no record of having a heart attack," Trager was quoted as saying.
"My understanding is that he had no reported true evidence of classical angina (a pain in the chest that can indicate a blocked artery)," he added. "He did have a history of irregular heart beats."
Trager attributed some of Atkins's weight to being bloated with fluid, common in patients with his condition because a weak heart cannot pump out fluids efficiently.
In most of his life, Atkins, who was six feet (1.82 meters) tall, weighed "significantly less," Trager told the paper.
Doctors did not perform an autopsy on Atkins.
They relied instead on an external examination based on hospital information, the paper said.
Handwritten notes in the medical examiner's report said Atkins had a history of "MI" (myocardial infarction, or heart attack), "CHF" (congestive heart failure) and "HTN" (hypertension), the paper said.
Atkins Nutritionals, the company that markets the Atkins food and product information, said its lawyers were investigating how the medical report came to be released.
Atkins's widow, Veronica Atkins, released a statement on the company's Internet site, www.atkins.com, attacking the "illegal distribution" of her husband's health information.
"It has now become clear to me that if I don't speak out, unscrupulous individuals will continue to twist and pervert the truth in an attempt to destroy the reputation and great work of my late husband," she said.
"It is clear that Dr. Atkins developed a condition called cardiomyopathy approximately three years prior to his death," she said.
"Cardiomyopathy is a serious and progressive condition and was, I have been told, in Robert's case, caused by a viral infection. Though this condition significantly weakened his heart, its cause was clearly related to an infection and not his diet."
There was no evidence to suggest otherwise, she said.
"But it has become clear to me that something as simple as the truth will be perverted and manipulated by dishonest individuals who will stop at nothing and will proceed without any regard for medical ethics or the previously private medical history of Dr. Atkins in an attempt not only to discredit my husband's work but to profit from his death."
Veronica Atkins said she would do her best to put an end to "this nonsense" so that physicians can focus on a debate rooted in fact. "We will not engage in espionage, tabloid journalism, or try to shout louder than these shameless individuals, and I look forward to the day when Dr. Atkins's soul can rest in peace and I can grieve uninterrupted."
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Originally Posted by SwoleCat
