“Stress is the body’s natural response to a real or perceived threat. A riot is an example of an acute stressor, and this type of event could trigger the heart to work harder, by increasing heart rate and blood pressure, which could conceivably trigger the formation of a clot that travels to the brain and causes a stroke,” said
Lindsey Rosman, an assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine."
"Two men who were arrested for assaulting Sicknick are alleged to have sprayed three officers, including Sicknick, in the face with bear spray."
“Individuals with preexisting heart disease are more susceptible to these types of events, but they can also occur in individuals who do not have underlying coronary disease or other risk factors for stroke.
Stressful events can also trigger a surge in stress hormones, such as cortisol, that activate biological processes that increase the risk of stroke,” Rosman said.
Dr. Mitch Elkind, the volunteer president of the American Heart Association, said psychological stress or physical exertion can lead to a cardiac problem that can secondarily result in a stroke.
“Traumatic events can lead to stroke,” said Elkind, who is also a professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University. “If the heart is overstressed there could be a heart attack that can lead to blood clot forming in the heart that could migrate to the brain and cause a stroke, or if there is enough stress going on, you could get a heart rhythm disturbance forming a blood clot that goes to the brain.”
The medical examiner’s declaration that the manner of death was “natural” after such events doesn’t sit right with forensic pathologist
Dr. Cyril Wecht. While Wecht has not examined the records directly, he said media accounts about the ruling puzzled him.
He was “shocked, amazed – hell, I don’t know where the hell he’s coming from,” he said.
The news release from the examiner’s office said that the term “natural” is “used when a disease alone causes death. If death is hastened by an injury, the manner of death is not considered natural.”
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“It’s not a natural death because of the contributing factors that were quite significant in precipitating his death. They contributed in a real significant way,” Wecht said.
He said with a workers’ compensation kind of case, for example, if someone experienced severe psychological stress that led to a compromise like a stroke, that would constitute a significant contributing factor.
“That moves it out of the category of natural death,” Wecht said.
If he were to make a ruling, if there was a strong case against the people involved in causing that stress it
“could well be a homicide.”
Were the strokes that killed US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick after the January 6 insurrection really natural? Some neurologists don't think so.
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