Mama Cass Make Your Own Kind Of Music

Video recording of the 1973 release from ABC Record Corp. Make Your Own Kind Of Music, Mama Cass Elliot, The Best Of Mama Cass, "Mama's Big Ones"

The Truth About Cass Elliot's Untimely Death

The facts about Cass Elliot's death have existed since a few days after she died on July 29, 1974. The pathologist who performed the autopsy, Keith Simpson, was one of England's leading forensic pathologists.

A competent forensic autopsy showed:

1) A heart problem leading to heart failure;
2) No sandwich or any other item in her throat or trachea; and
3) In fact, she had had very little to eat the day before she died.

Furthermore, the drug screen (a standard part of a forensic autopsy) showed no drugs in her system.

Simpson's conclusion was that Cass died of "heart failure due to fatty
myocardial degeneration due to obesity". Although this conclusion was disputed by American pathologists at the time, fatty myocardial degeneration is now recognized as a potentially lethal condition. The latest (1996) edition of the authoritative "Heart Fascicle" (officially, Tumors of the Heart and Great Vessels) published by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology states: "Rarely, lipomatous [fatty] infiltration ... may cause sudden death" and cites the following reference: Voigt J, Agsal N. Lipomatous infiltration of the heart. An uncommon cause of sudden unexpected death in a young man. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 1982;106:497-8.

One possible theory is that Cass Elliot had a heart condition of this sort for a long time. This would be consistent with the various times she is reported to have passed out during the 1963-74 time period. In a young woman, fainting is usually due to heat, onset of flu, pregnancy, or some other innocuous cause, but if it continues to happen, it warrants investigation. A "cardiac conduction defect" creating a disturbance of heart rhythm just might be caused by a fatty myocardium and could explain a great deal. Failure of the fibers of the heart that should conduct the impulses that cause the heartbeat to do so is a known cause of sudden death.

With special thanks to Rhonda D. Wright, M.D.
--excerpt from The Official Mama Cass Website