Coroner confirms Ecstasy overdose caused death of 15-year-old who attended massive rave [Updated]

Los Angeles County coroner's officials said Tuesday that Sasha Rodriguez, the 15-year-old girl hospitalized after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival rave in June, died as the result of an overdose of MDMA, a drug commonly known as Ecstasy.

Officials listed the cause of death as an accident due to drug intoxication.

[Updated at 5:40 p.m.: Coroner's officials said the official cause of death was determined to be complications of ischemic encephalopathy from methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) intoxication.]

In effect, the ingestion of the hallucinogen caused Sasha to lose oxygen to her brain, leading to inactivity and death, said Dr. Marc Futernick, head emergency room physician at California Hospital Medical Center, where Sasha was treated.

Although a drug overdose had been suspected from the start, it took weeks for toxicology tests to be completed.

Futernick said Sasha arrived at the hospital in a coma. During the ambulance ride and for a short time after she arrived at the hospital, she experienced seizures, he said. Her sodium levels were severely low and she had abnormal heart rhythms, Futernick said. Two days after she was admitted, tests showed Sasha had no brain activity. On June 29, she was taken off a life support machine and pronounced dead.

Sasha and another critically ill patient had been taken to the downtown Los Angeles hospital by ambulance directly from the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 27, officials said. Both were treated for drug intoxication in the intensive care unit.

Doctors told Sasha's family that she had Ecstasy in her system when the ambulance got her to the emergency room. Although many partygoers consider Ecstasy to be safe, doctors and researchers warn that the drug can cause high blood pressure leading to stroke. The drug can also trigger seizures, releasing toxins that cause kidney failure.

The Electric Daisy Carnival, held June 26 and 27, drew about 185,000 people and featured carnival rides, five stages and performances by Moby, Will.i.am, Steve Aoki and Deadmau5. About 120 people had to be taken to local hospitals, mostly for drug intoxication.

A family spokesman said Sasha's mother and father did not know of her plans to attend the rave, which was restricted to people over 16 unless they were accompanied by a legal guardian.

Insomniac, the company that staged Electric Daisy Carnival, filed a seven-figure lawsuit against L.A. on Friday, claiming the city did not have proper cause to terminate a concert planned for Oct. 30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In its complaint, the company cites more than a dozen recent deaths at or after major music or sporting events as an indication that their event was being unfairly singled out because of public perceptions of dance and electronic rave-like concerts.

-- Sarah Ardalani

Photo: Sasha Rodriguez.

Comments

[Tigerloose]

The promoter is suing LA because people die at raves on a regular basis. I wish I could be on that jury.

[DrugMonkey]

So close. Nice to see some followup after the toxicology report is in but you missed the mark. You've confirmed the decision of "drug intoxication" from the coroner and the allegation from the doctor that she had "ecstasy in her system". What we're missing here is whether or not the death was attributable specifically to *MDMA*. That is the real question at hand.

And as usual, the ecstasy fans will start arguing up down and sideways about how it had to be contaminants, alcohol ingestion or some other excuse.

It would be very helpful if you got specific in your reporting.

[uncle_vito]

Is this supposed to be fun? I do not get it.

[Peter]

SHE WAS ONE PERSON IN 185,000. IS EVERYONE TOO RETARDED TO FIGURE OUT THIS STATISTIC?

One person dies at one of the biggest raves in the world.

Are you people so blind as to see the destruction caused by alcohol? The violence? The abuse? The hate? Yet it remains legal?

You fools are blind and pathetic. Anyone who has ever experienced a rave knows the amount of love, peace and acceptance far outweighs any negative effects. I'm sorry to hear about this girls death, but when someone does of alcohol toxicity, does it make the front page? No. Never. And it happens all the time.

Statistically, more people die from horseback riding (per user) than ecstasy (per user). INCLUDING THE PILLS THAT ARE CUT. Why don't they make horseback riding illegal?

Does anyone notice anything wrong with this society?

Had the rave been fueled "by alcohol", there could have easily been dozens, if not hundreds of deaths. AND ITS LEGAL. AND YET YOU DONT HEAR ABOUT IT. What?

MDMA is a THERAPEUTIC tool. Look it up. It's the most beautiful mind & soul opening experience one can imagine. Less addictive than alcohol. Less toxic than alcohol. And it actually HAS positive uses, unlike alcohol. Anybody too stuck up in the media's BS to pass this experience needs to have their brain corrected.

Start doing your own research people. Raves are safe places. Ecstasy is a safe drug. Don't trust the media for this BS. Look it up yourself. Start developing your own mind and stop being a mindless sheep.

[Astonished]

Yeah, you and me both!

[plurseeker]

I call bullshit. Maybe they are covering it up in attempts to avoid a drug war debate. Or complete stupidity. They could have done toxicology blood tests after she passed away which was days after ingestion. Some of the substances commonly used to adulterate mdma with would be way out of her system by then.

Go to www.pillreports.com/ or www.ecstasydata.org/

[James]

"Her sodium levels were severely low and she had abnormal heart rhythms, Futernick said. "

Doesn't sound like an MDMA over dose.

LD50 for MDMA is anywhere from 100mg - 300mg per kilogram of body weight. The average dose is about 100 - 150mg. Which means even if she was a small person(e.g. 100lbs) she would have to consume roughly 50x the dose of a pill to overdose. Sounds more like hyponatremia brought on by drinking too much water, which is more likely to occur in a dance environment under the influence of a drug.

[Heather]

She should have been home with her parents. What parents would let their child go when they hear rave? DER! Raves are filled with drugs! Hello ppl! And yes I do go and yes I do roll when I go BUT I AM an adult! Keep an eye on yr darn kids ppl!

[Dan]

@Peter

She wasn't a statistic. She was a very real human being.

Being 15 years old, do you think she knew how to properly self-administer MDMA without doctor supervision? I really doubt it. It might be safe, but it's a drug that definitely requires doctor supervision because of potential side effects and physical interaction.

The situation is also a little different when it's a child versus an adult. An adult has enough life experience and legal ability to make an informed consent about their personal choices; a child generally doesn't.

Pity you didn't seem to mourn her passing. Whatever mistake she made, the community is poorer for the loss of her. We're talking about the loss of a child here, after all.

[Signal Bob]

I have no sympathy at all for anyone who does drugs and suffers the consequences. This young woman got what she deserved. The ones I feel sorry for are her parents and others who loved her, and she dumped on them. They have to live with this tragedy for the rest of their lives.

[Dif]

Its not that people die at raves, its that they die after many types of events. Sporting events, music concerts (not of the rave sort), bull runs, black friday stampedes.

[daragon]

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Forum....ahem the Sports Arena. I combined too many drugs while my parents weren't watching.

[David]

Oh my, there's a shock.

[deadeyeinside]

NEWSFLASH: people die if they ingest too much of anything.

Oh, ischemic encephalopathy is damage to brain due to lack of oxygen. ANYONE WHO KNOWS ANYTHING about brain chemistry and pharmacology knows that MDMA does not affect this, rather affects serotonin.

I call B.S. on this "coroner" and his agenda. You can get ischemic encephalopathy for any number of reasons in an overcrowded, enclosed space.

[errn]

The seizures caused the hyponatremia, or the hyponatremia caused the seizures? Sounds like water intoxication to me. ER docs are NOT medical examiners or patholigists.

[Vitaly]

It is unfortunate that she died. People do not die during raves all the time, I have been to a few and I have been reading this paper for a while. I will not defend drug use or say that it is not dangerous.

However, I am against overreaction to this death. Insomniac Events had a concert closed because of bad publicity. They do not distribute drugs at the events or encourage their use. It is not good for their business when people die at the events. They are in the business of making money, which they do by selling alcohol to party goers over 21 years old.

Tiesto is known for his sold out events that draw tens of thousands of party goers. Please enforce current drug laws, station drug sniffing dogs at the entrances, arrest drug dealers, detain people with dilated pupils and in case of 15 year olds, cal their parents... But let responsible people enjoy an ice cold beer while listening to they music they love. Not everyone does drugs and it is a misconception that you need drugs to enjoy this music. Listen to Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise 4 Latin America, you will understand why people are so passionate about this music.

[Heather]

I wonder if the parents will pay the hospital bills.

[CaliHATER]

"Colleefoneeya" people are all nutz ! !

[mce101087]

Parents knew she was attending this event and also knew what people are doing at this event. Why send your child to an event that may cause harm to your child? We all forget that we as parents are responsible for our childrens' actions. I hate to see people wanting to benefit from mistakes they cause themselves. This is one of the reason our kids generation today is crumbling day by day.

If anyone needs to point the finger, it should be pointed to her parents for allowing this!

[John]

Oh what's this, let's see what happens when someone has Hypernatremia and drinks a lot of water like Sasha did:

"However, overly rapid correction of hypernatremia is potentially very dangerous. The body (in particular the brain) adapts to the higher sodium concentration. Rapidly lowering the sodium concentration with free water, once this adaptation has occurred, causes water to flow into brain cells and causes them to swell. This can lead to cerebral edema, potentially resulting in seizures, permanent brain damage, or death."

Wait a minute, aren't these all the symptoms the doctor said she had? But, it was the MDMA that killed her, right?

Ok, glad we got that cleared up.

[Janine]

@ Dan a child is someone from 2 to about 10 years old stop acting like its ok cuz she didn't know any better shes almost 16 2 years away from moving out and voting she knows MDMA is an illegal drug and, im sure she knows the dangers of it, however done responsibly and properly it can be a beautiful thing iv been doing it for over 4 years now and i am perfectly healthy and have never had anything bad happen like it that , plain and simple she didn't take care of her self on the drug its common knowledge to make sure you eat and drink water throughout the night and to take rests between dancing, and if she is such a child and had no idea what she was doing, then where were here parents why dont they know what she is doing, several of her friends bragged about how they would double drop pills while still in line for parties, she wasn't new to this she knew what she was doing and didn't take the right steps to ensure a safe and fun night , its sad situation but one that shouldn't have happened she even knew she wasn't old enough to be at the event yet she still went anyway, regardless of if the event checked ids or not she shouldn't have been there why did her parents not know anything of her life style and what she did?

[Me]

Suing the city lol The Mayor gets a cool mil as a bribe from this event..everyone knows about his payoff.

[alex]

o, so i get it. this was an mdma "overdose".

so if someone crashes into a tree while driving drunk, the cause
of death would be alcohol poisoning right?

[rawrface]

I know... two weeks late into the game but FYI, you can't technically overdose on MDMA. It increases the activity of neurotransmitters that you already HAVE. If you take too much pure e... you're just wasting money. You can only roll so hard. If you don't have enough extra seratonin you can't roll and your body will reject the remaining MDMA and you'll pee it out. Kind of like when you take too much Vitamin C.

People get injured/die because they don't know HOW to take it, or they are just buying whatever; like pills cut with ketamine. Even so, knowing how to take a pill and not combining it with booze would save a lot of kids from hospitals trips.

Right now the cool things with kids (16 and under) is bragging about how much drugs they can take. P-tots ruined it for everyone, and now Insomniac is getting effed because some girl didn't bother to google how to stay safe on ecstasy. It's sad that she died... I just hope other idiotic kids figure out that no one wants to see them rolling around on the floor bcuz they think it's cool to triple drop.

[heyyy]

Anybody Know What Type Of Pill Was it ?