Jeff Conaway’s death ruled accidental with multiple causes
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Jeff Conaway’s autopsy results are back and the Los Angeles County coroner is ruling his death accidental. The findings also reveal that multiple causes, including internal infection, are to blame for his tragic end.
The “Grease” star, 60, was found unconscious at his L.A. home back on May 10 and rushed to an Encino hospital, where he remained in a coma until he passed away May 27.
Coroner Craig Harvey says that opiates and other drugs were found in Conaway’s system when he entered the hospital, but his office did not perform a toxicology test as part of their four-month investigation. With the actor’s extended hospital stay prior to his death, tests would have come back clean anyway.
Now, TMZ reports that septic emboli, aortic valve endocarditis, coronary artery disease, pneumonia and encephalopathy were among the key factors contributing to his death.
Dr. Drew Pinksy, who worked with Conaway on “Celerity Rehab,” told the public early on that despite Conaway’s trouble with prescription drugs, he believed “aspiration with overwhelming pneumonia and sepsis,” caused his friend’s deteriorating health, not an overdose.
Conaway is best known for playing John Travolta’s best friend Kenicke in “Grease” as well as the struggling actor Bobby Wheeler on ‘Taxi.’
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-- Emily Christianson
The Associated Press contributed to this report.