A medical specialist raised the analysis that the sudden death of Taiwanese actress the late Seohee was caused not by a simple cold but by a vicious cycle of underlying conditions and complications.
On the 3rd, the KBS2 program 'Secrets of celebrity soldiers' featured specialist Lee Nak-jun, who appeared to analyze Seohee's cause of death in detail from a medical perspective.
On that broadcast, Lee Nak-jun said Seohee had suffered from "mitral valve prolapse" during her life. Lee Nak-jun explained, "A normal heart should have the mitral valve close during contraction so blood does not flow backward, but Ms. Seohee's valve was lax." He said this caused the heart to overwork to prevent blood leakage, leading to cumulative overload and fatigue and a decline in heart function.
A disease she experienced during a past pregnancy worsened Seohee's health. During the birth of her second child, Seohee had a seizure and fell into a coma, which was due to preeclampsia. Lee Nak-jun diagnosed, "If you have mitral valve prolapse, the probability of developing preeclampsia is high, and conversely preeclampsia worsens heart disease. Ms. Seohee was in this 'vicious cycle.'"
The tragedy began on a family trip to Japan in Jan. 2025. Feeling unwell, Seohee took a hot spring bath to recover, but that choice proved fatal for someone with underlying disease. The specialist explained that "when pneumonia progresses in a person with a heart problem, pulmonary vascular pressure rises, causing acute heart failure and pulmonary edema," describing how her condition rapidly worsened at the time.
Especially regarding the circumstance that "her fever went down after receiving antipyretics," Lee Nak-jun left a piercing observation. He analyzed, "A fever subsiding in a chronically ill patient is not recovery but a warning sign that the body has given up fighting the virus and surrendered," and "that is probably why the medical staff strongly recommended transfer to a large hospital at the time."
Ultimately, on Feb. 2, 2025, Seohee suffered cardiac arrest while moving to the airport to return home and died after a 14-hour struggle.
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