Would suffocation ultimately lead to congestive heart failure, or is this a different story?
No. Suffocation and congestive heart failure are completely different. Most people understand what suffocation is, but congestive heart failure is a chronic disease, usually in old people, wherein the heart gets weak for some reason and can no longer pump with enough vigor to keep the blood moving sufficiently well. This insufficient circulation of the blood causes some of water in the blood to diffuse out of the vessels and pool in the tissues. The usual symptom at that point is shortness of breath caused by fluid build-up around the lungs, interfering with lung function. So in that sense I suppose it bears a superficial resemblance to suffocation. The short-term treatment at that point is usually diuretics - get the kidneys to excrete the excess water that the heart is not handling. Longer-term treatment often involves heart-stimulating drugs to get more effective action out fo the heart.
From what I remember the medical reports at the time, I don't thinkcongestive heart failure played any role in FloJo's death.
Kurt Bray
_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
