Carrie Fisher died on December 27, 2016, at age 60, after suffering a cardiac arrest on a flight from London to Los Angeles and never regaining consciousness in the hospital.

Official cause of death

  • The Los Angeles County coroner reported that the exact manner of death was undetermined , but listed sleep apnea and “other undetermined factors” as contributors.
  • Her death certificate initially cited cardiac arrest, with further tests pending, and later documentation emphasized sleep apnea and atherosclerotic heart disease (fatty buildup in the arteries) as significant conditions.

Role of heart and breathing issues

  • Fisher experienced a medical emergency (cardiac arrest) during the flight and was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she was pronounced dead four days later.
  • The coroner highlighted severe sleep apnea and heart disease as key health problems that contributed to the fatal event.

Drugs and toxicology findings

  • Toxicology tests showed evidence of multiple substances, including cocaine, opiates, methadone, MDMA (ecstasy), and alcohol in her system.
  • The coroner noted “multiple drug intake” but stated that the precise role these substances played in her death could not be clearly determined.

How her family framed it

  • Her daughter, Billie Lourd, later said that Fisher had battled drug addiction and mental illness for much of her life and that “she ultimately died of it,” stressing how those long‑term struggles were intertwined with the medical findings.
  • Public health and sleep experts have since pointed to Fisher’s case as a warning about the dangers of untreated or severe sleep apnea, especially when combined with heart disease and substance use.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.