Actor Jeff Conaway’s death ruled accidental
Autopsy results show that Jeff Conaway, the star of “Taxi” and “Grease” who struggled with addiction before his death in May, died from multiple causes including a major internal infection.
In ruling the actor’s death accidental in a report released on Friday, the Los Angeles County coroner specified a number of contributing factors, among them septic emboli, aortic valve endocarditis, coronary artery disease, pneumonia and encephalopathy.
The four-month investigation by Coroner Craig Harvey’s office did not include a toxicology test because Conaway, 60, had been in the hospital for more than two weeks at the time of his death, and any test for illicit drugs would have come back clean.
Conaway, who had a history of addiction to prescription and nonprescription drugs as well as alcohol, was hospitalized May 10 after being found unconscious in his Los Angeles area home.
At the time, he was also suffering from pneumonia and sepsis and was recovering from back surgery. He remained in a coma until his May 27 death, a day after his family took him off life support.
The actor’s problems with addiction were documented in 2008 when he appeared on the TV series “Celebrity Rehab.”
