Regarding AC’s death, a pulmonary embolism isn’t a ‘guess’ or ‘go-to’ if they can’t find anything else during an autopsy. It’s an actual clot that probably traveled from his legs as a deep vein emboli/thrombosis and up to his lungs. A PE can be very fatal very very fast.
I once had a patient come into the ER screaming she couldn’t breathe and couldn’t be calmed down. There’s a little saying ‘if you can talk you can breathe’ so while we knew something was wrong we also knew she was ‘breathing’, but that’s how awful a PE is. She ended up dying within an hour of arriving to the ER from a PE. You can also have small (ignorable) symptoms for a while before it becomes fatal.
You don’t even need to be unhealthy to get a PE. Serena Williams got a PE after a long plane flight and some recent lower extremity injuries (both huge risk factors for PE). It’s all about clots and blood viscosity and blood pressure, etc. Hadn’t AC traveled to Las Vegas before his death to get married? He was probably pretty immobile for long periods of time, may not have been taking his BP meds, under stress which could have raised his BP and HR.
My point is, PEs are scary and sudden and can literally happen to anyone. I know we’d like to see the villains in this story be responsible for his death because it fits a narrative that makes more sense than him dying so suddenly and conveniently, but I just don’t see the ME getting this wrong. You can’t really induce a clot like that just to kill someone, and if you could it’s doubtful it would be big enough or travel far enough to cause a PE, Heart attack, or stroke without stopping at smaller veins first.
A PSA before I go, if you’re going to travel it’s important to walk and stretch your legs every hour and if your MD says it’s okay take a baby aspirin before.
MOO.