Stand-up comedian Bob Saget died last month at the age of 65. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said at the time deputies were called to the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando after an unresponsive man was found in a hotel room.
In a recently released autopsy report for Saget, doctors are weighing in on what might have happened to him.
His autopsy findings indicate an “unwitnessed fall backwards” that resulted in blunt force head trauma. The report included a list of extensive skull fractures and brain injuries, such as posterior scalp abrasions, subgaleal hemorrhage, discoloration in the upper and lower eyelids due to skull fracture, subdural hematoma, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, said, “What happened to Bob Saget is extremely tragic, but unfortunately not uncommon. Every year, more than 61,000 Americans die from traumatic brain injury, and many of these are due to falls.”
“Falling from standing, especially onto a hard surface like a bathtub or hard ground, can cause the kind of injury that Mr. Saget experienced,” she added.
“A fracture in the back of the skull could lead to fractures in other parts of the skull. That kind of force could also lead to bleeding inside the brain. Because the skull is an enclosed structure, there is nowhere for blood to go except to press on the brain. That kind of pressure is what leads to unconsciousness and eventually to death,” explained Dr. Wen, who is also an op-ed columnist with The Washington Post and a CNN medical analyst.
Dr. Joshua Marcus, a neurosurgeon at Nuvance Health, said Saget’s injuries suggest more than “benign head trauma.”
Both Dr. Wen and Dr. Marcus did not examine Saget.
Dr. Marcus explained. “The report reads like someone who just had a bad head trauma. I think the bigger question here is the mechanism of there being just a minor head trauma, which this just feels less like. [This] doesn’t smell like a benign head trauma, here. It looks like someone who had a major roll down the stairs, car accident, bicycle accident, motorcycle accident.”
He went on to say Saget could have suffered a very bad fall, but the injuries around his eye sockets still give him pause.
“There are people who fall from standing and have things that look just like traumatic injury. The thing that’s tougher to track here are the fractures.” Dr. Marcus said. “To have a fracture, you have to have enough blunt force on a bone — directly on a bone — in order to fracture it. It’s very hard to fracture your orbit [bones in the eye socket area] without traumatizing your orbit.”
Like some people with a head injury, Saget might have gone to sleep. Both Dr. Wen and Dr. Marcus said it is possible.
Dr. Wen said, “I have seen patients present to the ER days after the injury with ongoing bleeding. Others die within minutes. Many are able to be saved if they seek medical care in time, and the pressure on the brain can be relieved. It’s possible that Mr. Saget fell, thought he could sleep it off, then went to bed — but unfortunately never woke up.”
Dr. Marcus added, “With that amount of trauma, he probably was pretty confused. I think it’s reasonable to have confusion and, honestly, lethargy, which is somnolence, which would put you to sleep.”
Last week, Saget’s family confirmed to PEOPLE that he died because of head trauma. He was also COVID-positive upon his death, according to the autopsy report.
On January 9, the family said, “The authorities have determined that Bob passed from head trauma. They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it, and went to sleep.”
Dr. Wen said. “It’s really critical to take head injury very seriously. Use an abundance of caution and seek medical care as soon as possible — especially if the person who fell is older, on blood thinners, or taking medications that might make someone sleepier.”
“Also, go to the ER if you have symptoms like blurred vision, severe headache, severe nausea or vomiting, or stroke-like symptoms,” she added. “And make sure to tell someone that you fell, so that they can keep checking on you.”
