Sunday, December 07, 2008

Sunny von Bulow

In the book "Insulin Murders" (London Royal Society of Medicine Press 2007), co-authors Caroline Richmond, who writes obits for the British Medical Journal and other publications, and Vincent Marks, an international expert on insulin, detail the medical aspects of the Sunny von Bulow case.

Sunny von Bulow, an heiress who spent nearly 28 years in a coma before dying Dec. 6, 2008, at age 76, was the subject of the book (and subsequent movie) "Reversal of Fortune" by lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who represented her husband, Claus von Bulow, in one of two attempted-murder trials. The husband allegedly tried to kill the heiress with an overdose of insulin.

Caroline says: There was no attempt at murder: her coma and persistent vegetative state was a result of abusing medicines, mainly painkillers, alcohol, appetite suppressant and other prescription drugs. There are accurate accounts in Alan Dershowitz's book, my book, and Wikipedia. And plenty of inaccurate acounts.

Caroline's obit for von Bulow was published today - Mon., Dec. 8, 2008 - in The Independent.

1 comment:

Tom Hobbs said...

There seems to be an editorial mishap in the Independent's death coverage . . . Caroline's obit places the beginning of Sunny's terminal coma in Dec. '80, yet the accompanying photo of Sunny exiting a limo is captioned Aug. '81. Am I missing something? Oh well, these people were a piece of work for sure, IMHO.