A long-awaited autopsy report on the death of rapper Kanye West's mother did not determine a precise cause of death but did generate new questions about the medical care she received both before and after undergoing plastic surgery Nov. 9 in Brentwood.
Louis A. Pena, a Los Angeles County deputy medical examiner, wrote that Donda West "died from some preexisting coronary artery disease and multiple postoperative factors following surgery."
Among the postoperative factors that Pena cited were evidence of pneumonia that possibly had been caused by aspirated vomit. Other factors included her pain-control medication and the tight bandaging of her chest.
West died a day after she underwent breast reduction and liposuction surgery. Her death has generated national attention and sparked debate about the risks of cosmetic surgery.
In a prepared statement Thursday, the coroner's office said "multiple postoperative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined."
However, the coroner's office said there was no evidence that the death had been caused by a mistake in surgery or anesthesia.
Payam Afsharian, administrator of the Brentwood center where West had the surgery, said the autopsy vindicated West's high-profile surgeon, Dr. Jan Adams, who has appeared on such TV shows as "Oprah" and "Extra" and has hosted his own plastic surgery show.
Dr. Michael F. McGuire, an expert who reviewed the autopsy report for The Times, found several problems with her care.
West should have been connected to equipment that monitored her temperature and the oxygen levels in her blood, among other things, after she had left surgery, McGuire said.
Without such monitoring, it would have been hard to determine whether West was sinking into a fever or was getting enough oxygen to her brain, he said.
"One of the friends that saw her said she felt warm, but we don't know if she had fevers, chills, or how well she was breathing," said McGuire, vice president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and an associate clinical professor at UCLA.
"If you have this magnitude of surgery . . . you should have monitoring done," McGuire said. "Going anywhere without proper care and monitoring is inappropriate."
