The death of a hard partyer at a nightclub a while back sparked a lot of news coverage. The guy overdosed on Special K and ecstasy. One article in the tabloids stated that the corpse’s temperature was 104 degrees three hours after death. What I’d like to know is, how could the victim’s body stay warm for three hours after his demise? If in fact the corpse cooled off during that time, good Lord, what could the guy’s temperature have been when he died?
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Ecstasy impairs the body’s ability to regulate temperature and can cause a condition known as hyperthermia or hyperpyrexia. In a German medical journal earlier this year doctors told of a 21-year-old man who took a suicidal dose of ecstasy, formally known as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA for short). The patient’s body temperature topped 109 degrees–and this guy lived (albeit with immediate medical assistance). Some ecstasy users don’t–including quite a few who aren’t trying to kill themselves. According to another journal article, at least 87 ecstasy-related deaths had been reported as of 2001. Hawk tells me that body temperature at the time of those deaths could’ve been as high as 117–a temperature of 115 has been confirmed. Even if we assume a more conservative 109 at the decisive moment, a corpse cools at roughly 1.5 degrees per hour–slow enough that a temperature of 104 three hours later is about right.
To be fair, not all ecstasy deaths result from hyperpyrexia. Other causes of death include rhabdomyolysis (toxic muscle breakdown), kidney and liver failure, cardiac arrhythmia, blood clotting leading to hemorrhage and stroke, and accidents or suicides while under the influence. Contributing factors can include hyponatremia (low blood sodium) and cerebral edema (brain swelling) caused by a combination of heavy sweating and excessive water consumption.
PS: What exactly is the “Loathsome Disease” that is grounds for divorce in Kentucky? If it’s hay fever I’m in trouble.
