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Henry Kissinger, the late secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, who was linked to decisions linked to millions of deaths around the world, died of congenital heart failure, according to police reports. Rolling Stone.
Kissinger died on November 29 at his home in Connecticut at the age of 100. A report from his consulting firmKissinger Associates, but the report did not include a cause of his death.
According to Greg Grant, Yale University historian and author of a 2015 biography Kissinger's Shadow, Kissinger's foreign policy decisions under Nixon and Ford led to the premature deaths of an estimated three to four million people worldwide, in countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Chile, and Argentina.
As mentioned in Rolling StoneKissinger's obituary, he was celebrated by America's ruling class and media pundits and conservatives. Kissinger was very active in the months before his death, attending centenary celebrations hosted by various elite institutions. The New York Public Library And this Economic Club of New York The duo hosted birthday parties for him in 2023, and he was honored Principal Speaker At the anniversary Alfred E. Smith Diner.
A police report from the day of Kissinger's death reveals that he died in the presence of an internist, Alphonse Altorelli. It notes that Kissinger took his last breath at 6:18 p.m., and Altorelli pronounced Altorelli dead 22 minutes later at 6:40 p.m.
Ernest Chiodo, a physician, lawyer and toxicologist, was not associated with Kissinger or his death. Rolling Stone Those 22 minutes could have been spent conducting tests to confirm his death.
„You do some basic tests, you rub somebody's chest, see if there's any pain, you look at their pupils, see if there's any pupil response,” Chiodo said. „It makes sense to take 20 minutes for that.”
Chiodo said if Kissinger's family had anticipated his death, resuscitation procedures such as CPR would not have been performed. The Connecticut state attorney's office did not open an investigation „based on the fact that he was in the presence of a doctor and because of his age,” the police report noted.
Kissinger had chronic difficulties with his heart health. He has a Triple heart bypass surgery In 1982, at the age of 58. He also has one Aortic valve replacement At the age of 91.
Chiodo noted that congenital heart failure is a long-term process with many possible symptoms. „Your heart isn't pumping normally,” he said. „You have various abnormalities, the lungs fill up with fluid, your legs swell, your liver swells, you get abnormalities in the liver.”
Police reports also indicate that State Police conducted security raids on Kissinger's home, where he lived with his wife, Nancy, in the two days following his death. On Dec. 1, the house was also monitored by a “private security” officer.
„There was no problem with the press,” the Dec. 1 police report added.
It is not clear how long Kissinger suffered from severe symptoms of congenital heart failure, or whether he contemplated an inexplicable death after his conclusions. But he managed to live to the exceptional age of 100 – far longer than most of the victims of his policies.