# How many rock stars really choked on their own vomit (or someone else's ;-))? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134 "2017-06-04T22:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/21 "2017-06-05T22:57:10Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Cass’ sister, Leah Kunkel, publicly debunked the ham sandwich story, explaining that as a Jew who observed dietary laws, Cass would never have touched a ham sandwich. There was a ham sandwich and a can of Coca Cola in the room when she died. The sandwich wasn’t touched, though. She was overweight often and tried crash diets which is not a good idea. Diagnosis was “heart failure due to fatty myocardial degeneration due to obesity”. No drugs were found in her system. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/22 "2017-06-05T23:48:46Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > How about a thread on rock stars who _should have_ choked on someone’s vomit? I’m not sure the SDMB has the storage capacity for that thread. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/23 "2017-06-06T03:29:25Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > There was a ham sandwich and a can of Coca Cola in the room when she died. The sandwich wasn’t touched, though. She was overweight often and tried crash diets which is not a good idea. Diagnosis was “heart failure due to fatty myocardial degeneration due to obesity”. No drugs were found in her system. I stand corrected. I can see how the rumor started due to the attending physician’s erroneous report. Edit - Also here’s an article citing this: [http://www.medicalbag.com/what-killed-em/mama-cass-elliot/article/486654/](http://www.medicalbag.com/what-killed-em/mama-cass-elliot/article/486654/) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/24 "2017-06-06T03:29:49Z")
Trivia tidbit: Mama Cass and Keith Moon died in the same apartment–which was owned by Harry Nilsson. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/25 "2017-06-06T10:23:11Z")
Isn’t choking on vomit usually a side effect of something else? For instance, drinking to such excess that they’re comatose and vomiting, and sleeping in wrong positioning. Sometimes with drugs overdoses vomiting takes place too, and for the same reason its the vomit which kills first, rather than the overdoes itself. I was lead to believe that’s how Hendrix died, while overdosing on something. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/26 "2017-06-06T15:32:43Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Isn’t choking on vomit usually a side effect of something else? For instance, drinking to such excess that they’re comatose and vomiting, and sleeping in wrong positioning. > > Sometimes with drugs overdoses vomiting takes place too, and for the same reason its the vomit which kills first, rather than the overdoes itself. I was lead to believe that’s how Hendrix died, while overdosing on something. Yes, you’re essentially right. And when a person drinks himself to death, the cause of death isn’t always immediately obvious. Someone at the coroner’s office may speculate out loud before an autopsy has been done, and “he choked on his vomit” could spread around the world long before the actual report says the real cause of death was \_\_\_\_ (hypothermia, alcohol poisoning, lethal combo of alcohol and sleeping pills, whatever). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/27 "2017-06-06T17:52:25Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Sometimes with drugs overdoses vomiting takes place too, and for the same reason its the vomit which kills first, rather than the overdoes itself. I was lead to believe that’s how Hendrix died, while overdosing on something. Hendrix apparently OD’d on barbiturates, specifically the sleeping pill [Vesparax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesparax), of which he had taken 18 times the recommended dose. Bonham had consumed 40 shots of 80-proof vodka in 24 hours (including 16 shots at breakfast - 4 quadruple screwdrivers!). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/28 "2017-06-06T18:35:09Z")
In _'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky_, the author states that the ambulance attendants asphyxiated Jimi by putting him in a position where his body was unable to clear the vomit from his throat. So the one confirmed case may have been a matter of negligence on the part of those trying to rescue him. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/29 "2017-06-06T19:20:58Z")
Somewhere I heard that the line from Spinal Tap was based on the death of Brian Jones, founder of the Rolling Stones. There’s no report of him choking on his own or anyone else’s vomit though. I would assume some number of rock stars have choked but not died on their own vomit, and wouldn’t be overly surprised if someone non-fatally choked on someone else’s vomit. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134/30 "2017-06-06T20:07:21Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Trivia tidbit: Mama Cass and Keith Moon died in the same apartment–which was owned by Harry Nilsson. I’m sure there’s a “lime in the coconut” joke somewhere in there, but I’m too tired to think of it. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Somewhere I heard that the line from Spinal Tap was based on the death of Brian Jones, founder of the Rolling Stones. There’s no report of him choking on his own or anyone else’s vomit though. > . Jones drowned in his swimming pool some weeks after being ousted from the Stones. Drugs may or may not have been contributory; it was THAT kind of case. The coroner finally ruled it as “death by misadenture” which is about as wibbly-wobbly as you can get. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-rock-stars-really-choked-on-their-own-vomit-or-someone-elses/788134.md?page=1)