Jerry Falwell - Another Victim of Sudden Death

Today, Jerry Falwell was found unconcious in his office and could not be resuscitated, likely from cardiac causes:

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.

Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said. Mr. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Mr. Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."

"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Mr. Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."

Mr. Falwell had survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then was hospitalized again a few weeks later after going into respiratory arrest. Later that year, doctors found a 70% blockage in an artery, which they opened with stents.

You wonder what his ejection fraction was and if an automatic defibrillator might have prevented this...

-Wes