The symptoms of a heart attack and blunt force head trauma are apparently very similar.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

At least when it comes to deceased officials in the Russian government.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/11/470064826/former-putin-aide-died-of-blunt-force-injuries-in-d-c-medical-report-says

Former Putin Aide Died Of 'Blunt Force Injuries' In D.C., Medical Report Says

March 11, 2016·10:03 AM ET

Bill Chappell

A former Russian press minister and aide to President Vladimir Putin who was found dead in a Washington, D.C., hotel last November died from blunt force injuries, according to a report from the chief medical examiner's office.

It's the first time an official cause of death for Mikhail Lesin has been announced in the case. When Lesin died four months ago, Russian media outlets reported that the cause was a heart attack, citing family members.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Washington says Lesin died as a result of blunt force injuries to his head, with other contributing causes listed as blunt force injuries to his "neck, torso, upper extremities and lower extremities."

[Wounded Bear]

1. What was that old quote...

from some gangster or spy movie?

IIRC, it goes something like: In the end, all forms of death can be attributed to heart failure.

[WePurrsevere]

2. Funny how it works that way isn't it?

I remember something similar too but can't recall nor find via Google where from.

[TNNurse]

10. I knew an MD who used the term

"Acute Stoppage of the Heart".

[Maru Kitteh]

11. All bleeding stops eventually.

One of my favorites.

[ProfessorPlum]

13. I thought it was lack of oxygen to the brain

that did us all in

[ck4829]

3. Putin should get a different hitman, that sounds similar to what happened with Sergei Magnitsky

On 16 November, eight days before he would have had to have been released if he were not brought to trial, Magnitsky died for reasons attributed first by prison officials as a "rupture to the abdominal membrane" and later to a heart attack.

Another post-mortem from 2011 summarized the death as being caused by "traumatic application of the blunt hard object (objects)" as confirmed by "abrasions, ecchymomas, blood effusions into the soft tissues".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Magnitsky#Death_in_custody

[PatSeg]

4. Yeah,

I thought Putin was much more creative than that.

[ck4829]

5. Maybe they realize they went too far with polonium in a defector's tea, less room for deniability

"Let's just beat them to death and say they had a heart attack. Everybody good with that?"

[PatSeg]

6. Good point

Polonium would be like Putin's signature and it has gotten too much press.

[Turn CO Blue]

9. The isotopes have a chemical signature, so could be traced or at least

forensics would be able to begin grouping deaths together into which would lead to deductions... because nobody is getting access to polonium unless it's sourced or stolen from the highest levels.

So yeah, old fashioned beatings seem to be back in vogue.

[appal_jack]

7. This means that Putin's assassins operate w/ impunity in DC

It's been four months, and we're only just hearing about the cause of death: no suspects mentioned. I find this at least as ominous as the assassination itself.

k&r,

-app

[ProudLib72]

8. Why is it that Putin's spies can wander freely in this country

while veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are being deported?

I would call the spies bad hombres.

[ProfessorPlum]

12. I thought this thread was going to be about Joe Scarborough's dead intern

Evil minds think and cover up murder alike, I guess