People Magazine. A Body to Die For.
A Body to Die for.
Published on October 30, 2000
LISA PETERSON
She had faith in a suspect herbal supplement
Her husband, John, by her side, Linda Peterson gently rocks Meeka, the mixed-breed shih tzu that belonged to their only child, Lisa, who died last fall at 26. “We think Meeka may have some of Lisa’s spirit,” says Linda, 52, a high school science teacher who lives in Ozona, Fla. A marketing specialist for a brokerage firm, her 5’9″ daughter had a fondness for Picasso prints and Victoria’s Secret catalogs—as well as burritos, chocolate and Brie, which helped push her weight to 180 lbs. In 1997 Lisa resolved to reduce. “My family is overweight,” says John, 52, a mattress distributor. “I think it concerned her.” Adds Linda: “The self-image wasn’t there. Being thin is important in business or meeting men.”
Lisa devoted herself to a Jenny Craig diet and the gym. The regimen seemed to work. She lost 35 lbs. and in 1998 started dating. “I think she was starting to feel good about herself,” says Linda. But in the weeks before her death, Lisa, fearful that she would regain the weight, also began to take an herbal supplement containing the chemical ephedrine, an amphetamine-like stimulant.
When Lisa’s parents called her Clearwater, Fla., condo last Nov. 30, there was no answer. Worried, John drove over at about 10 p.m. “The TV was on, and Meeka was barking,” he says. “I thought she was in the shower.” So he went home. But when Lisa didn’t show up for work the next day, John returned to find Meeka standing guard over his daughter, who lay dead on the floor, a banana in her hand, a cup of tea on the stove and blood running from her mouth. An autopsy showed that Lisa’s left coronary artery had collapsed. Found in her system was ephedrine, from a supplement containing ephedra, a federally unregulated herb about which the FDA has received hundreds of reports of illness and which has been linked to more than a dozen deaths.
“There is nothing in this case that could lead you to believe ephedrine was related to Lisa’s death,” says Wes Seigner of the Ephedra Education Council, an herbal-supplement interest group. He maintains that several experts have reviewed Lisa’s autopsy and come to the same conclusion. But after consulting dozens of cardiologists, the Petersons are considering legal action. “It looks like a pretty strong case,” says Christopher Grell, their attorney, noting that ephedrine is known to induce hypertension, which he says can cause the heart condition that took Lisa’s life. “We know something killed her,” Linda says. “To try to find some reason is a way of working through it.”
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