Ending weeks of speculation, the Los Angeles county coroner said on Thursday that Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson died of complications related to her Type 1 diabetes, according to a recent article from the Associated Press.
Johnson died of diabetic ketoacidosis. The condition is caused by extremely high blood sugar levels and a lack of insulin. As a result, the body switches to burning fatty acids and making ketones. The condition is fatal in a small percentage of cases.
People with Type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, the hormone needed to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood. Therefore, they must inject insulin with needles or an insulin pump.
Johnson’s body was found on Jan. 4 and police suspect she was dead for several days at the time of discovery. At the time, a People magazine article cited an unidentified police source who said the cops suspect that Johnson came home from a night of partying and “passed out” without taking her medication. Several reports at the time also noted her personal demons and past drug abuse as possible causes.
Johnson, the daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child. Woody Johnson is the chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
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