Community Corner
Breitbart Autopsy Performed Friday, No Results Yet
An autopsy was performed on Breitbart, a Westwood resident, Friday morning.
UPDATE, March 3: A final determination on the cause of death of Andrew Breitbart has been deferred pending the results of toxicology and microscopic studies.
Coroner's Chief Craig Harvey said his office ordered the autopsy because of factors including that "he was under 50 and he was not in the care of a doctor in the past year.''
The cause of death determination could take four to six weeks, Harvey said.
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"Once the results (of toxicology and microscopic studies) have been received and evaluated, a final cause of death will be entered for Mr. Breitbart,'' Harvey said.
Breitbart's father-in-law, actor Orson Bean, told the Los Angeles Times in remarks published today that the death "looks like a heart attack.''
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An autopsy was being conducted Friday on the body of conservative blogger and commentator Andrew Breitbart, who died Thursday. The 43-year-old Breitbart died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after collapsing while on a walk near his Westwood home.
Coroner's Chief Craig Harvey said his office ordered the autopsy because of factors including that "he was under 50 and he was not in the care of a doctor in the past year.'' The autopsy was in progress late this morning, Harvey said.
Earlier:
Breitbart's father-in-law, actor Orson Bean, told the Los Angeles Times in remarks published today that the death "looks like a heart attack'' but the cause would have to be determined by the autopsy. A posting on Breitbart's website shortly after he died reported that the death was from natural causes.
Breitbart had a hand in former New York congressman Anthony Weiner's fall from grace, and took on the national nonprofit group ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. In 2009, he posted an undercover video in which a pair of activists posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend approached ACORN for help with a brothel in which underage Salvadorans would live and work. ACORN workers appeared accommodating, and the organization lost its congressional funding in the ensuing uproar.
Breitbart, who was popular with the Tea Party movement, previously spent 10 years as editor of the conservative Drudge Report and helped launch the blog The Huffington Post. Breitbart lived in Westwood and is survived by his wife and their four children. Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
