# Why Have An Autopsy For Whitney Houston? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704 "2012-02-13T13:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704/21 "2012-02-14T12:33:15Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > I was just wondering. My husband was 44 when he died and it was sudden and a heart attack. No autopsy was performed. They just put myocardial infarction on the death certificate and that was that. I’m in Chicago. > > I’m not saying she should not have had one, I was just wondering why. I guess with a celebrity it’s a bit different. First of all, I am sorry for your loss. 44 is really too young to go and suddenly. However, remember an autopsy is employed to aceertain cause of death. If there was a period of time between symptoms starting and his death and in that period of time he was seen by medical experts, they could have properly deduced cause of death. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704/22 "2012-02-14T14:55:55Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > I guess with a celebrity it’s a bit different. 😕 Have you been reading this thread _at all_? Yes, it’s because she’s a celebrity. That’s the \*only \*reason to perform an autopsy on someone found dead with no obvious cause. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704/23 "2012-02-14T17:07:55Z")
Have **you**? Are we reading a different thread? Cuz I’m seeing plenty of legal (and pragmatic) reasons to perform an autopsy whether or not we’d ever heard of the now-deceased or gave a shit about her music, career, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704/24 "2012-02-14T18:43:07Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Have **you**? Are we reading a different thread? Cuz I’m seeing plenty of legal (and pragmatic) reasons to perform an autopsy whether or not we’d ever heard of the now-deceased or gave a shit about her music, career, etc. I’m pretty sure that **Eyebrows of Doom** was being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704/25 "2012-02-14T18:51:33Z")
- looks sheepish, scuffs shoe back and forth \* Anyone else hear a wooshing sound? ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704/26 "2012-02-14T20:03:41Z")
I was talking to a pathologist just this weekend who had a relevant story to tell. He identified the cause of death of a young woman as being a hitherto unknown genetic arrhythmia. He then spent the afternoon tracking down her extended family. Twelve of them had the condition and have now had pacemakers fitted. When someone asked why it was _his_ job to track them down he said that going through normal channels would have taken weeks or months and one of them could have died in the meantime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-an-autopsy-for-whitney-houston/612704.md?page=1)