The news story that was published in the Culture section of this newspaper barely contained two paragraphs: “Karen Carpenter, who became famous in the world of songs during the 1970s in the duo The Carpenters she formed with her brother Richard, died yesterday at the age of 32. Her death occurred half an hour after the singer was admitted to the medical center due to heart failure.” It was on February 4, 1983, when Karen Carpenter’s mother found her daughter passed out in her room at the family home. She arrived at the hospital alive, but her heart couldn’t take much more. For years she had been fighting bulimia as well as anorexia nervosa, an illness that at that time was largely unknown. According to the forensic report, the artist’s body contained large doses of ipecac, a medication to induce vomiting in cases of poisoning, but which is usually used by people suffering from eating disorders. In cases of chronic abuse, ipecac can cause arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, shock, and eventually death.
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