The Oregon Women's Report - Women's News from Oregon

June 29, 2009

By Evergreen,

An estimated 8 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder.  Ian Halperin, author of Michael Jackson the Final Years, wrote about Michale Jackson’s eating disorder.

“Meanwhile, everybody around him noticed that Jackson had lost an astonishing amount of weight in recent months. His medical team even believed he was anorexic. ‘He goes days at a time hardly eating a thing and at one point his doctor was asking people if he had been throwing up after meals,’ one staff member told me in May. ‘He suspected bulimia but when we said he hardly eats any meals, the doc thought it was probably anorexia. He seemed alarmed and at one point said, ‘People die from that all the time. You’ve got to get him to eat.’’Indeed, one known consequence of anorexia is cardiac arrest. ”

I appreciate this article for the words of the doctor who said “people die from that all the time”.  It is true.  Although, we may never know if it It was the greatest factor in Jackson’s death, we do know that such disorders contribute to many deaths.  If it is true, I would hope that this tragedy would be a life lesson that could save thousands of others.