Jett Travolta’s Death in the Media
There has been a lot of confusion about what may have happened to kill Jett Travolta, the only son of John Travolta, so suddenly at only 16 years old. This confusion is not surprising. It happens every time that we the public mix with what is essentially a private matter. Prurient public curiosity aside, somewhere in here may be a message about the need for compliance with seizure medication, a particular problem among adolescents, where medications are about 66 percent effective. There have been some reports that Jett’s medication may have been stopped because it wasn’t working. It is not yet clear whether the parents’ belief in scientology kept them from seeking other treatments, or whether that would have made a difference in controlling Jett’s seizures.
For what it’s worth, here is my take on Jett Travolta’s tragic death:
- It is unlikely that Kawasaki’s disease (an inflammatory disease of blood vessels that also causes fever, lymph node swelling, and rashes) played a direct role in Jett Travolta’s tragic death. Though this rare disease (4,000 cases per year) can affect the heart, and also cause seizures, it is also generally cured or in remission by age 5.
- It has never been confirmed that Jett Travolta suffers from autism, an illness which is characterized by difficulty relating to others. Autism does not cause seizures, though the incidence of seizures is 4-32 percent in autism and only 0.5 percent in the general population.
- Patients with epilepsy have a mortality rate 2-3 times that of the general population. Epilepsy-related causes of death in this population account for 40 percent of the deaths.
- Death from epilepsy frequently involves problems with breathing due to obstruction of the airways, buildup of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema), or a cardiac arrhythmia resulting from a surge of hormones that accompanies a seizure. (the autopsy would not show an arrhythmia but would show damage to the heart or a problem with the lungs)
- Sudden, unexplained death in epilepsy accounts for 8-17 percent of these deaths.
- But in Jett Travolta’s case, news reports would suggest that the most likely causes of death would be trauma-related (hitting his head on the bathtub during the seizure, or drowning). If a blow to the head caused bleeding in the brain, the autopsy will show that.
Dr. Marc Siegel is an internist and associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He is a FOX News medical contributor and writes a health column for LA Times, where he examines TV and movies for medical accuracy. Dr. Siegel is the author of “False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear
Tags: autism, epilepsy, Jett Travolta, John Travolta, Kawasaki's Disease, Kelly Preston, seizures
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Very well researched and thought-out, Dr. Siegel.
Every TV pundit should read this before they spout off about it.
-Steve
Travolta is indirectly responsible for his son Jett’s death. Travolta refused to recognize and accept his son’s disability and provide the proper treatment. Jett was kept in a rich man’s closet, much the way disabled people in the past were kept in the basement. He deserved a better life.
It is misinformation that Kawasaki Disease is cured or in remission by age 5. The acute stage of this disease can occur well into the teen years. Heart damage sustained at a young age, can cause death a number of years later. There is simply so much that is not known about the later affects on patients who had KD that one cannot say a patient is “cured”. All persons who have had KD must follow a heart healthy lifestyle and be vigilant to early heart disease. I do agree that Jett’s death was NOT related to his KD but you are doing the public a huge disfavor in playing down this disease. It is NOT as rare as has been quoted in the media; it is often mis- or undiagnosed due to symptoms being attributed to other illnesses or when a patient presents with “atypical” symptoms as was the recent case with Brian Littrell’s son. If you are interested in accurate and up to date information on this disease, please visit http://www.kdfoundation.org
TO PETER—You are unbelievably rude and cruel. You know absolutely NOTHING about the life of Jett or the Travolta’s. You are ignorant and make generalized assumptions based on how you view celebrities. Maybe you’re jealous that they can lead a life you do not?? Jett was well cared for, well loved and they are good people…and yes, I do know that as fact!
The Travolta lawyers make a statement that the decision to stop all medications was made after “consulting” a doctor. What they won’t tell you is that the doctor almost certainly THE DOCTOR THAT EVALUATED JETT DID NOT AGREE WITH THE DECISION TO TAKE HIM OFF HIS MEDICATION–NO DOCTOR EVER WOULD in a child this ill. This is almost certainly why the name of this doctor has not been released. During my internship I did several months of rotations in Neurology–and this is what Neurologists teach. Although unintended, this foolish decision cost the life of an innocent child. I’ve heard Travolta spinners on the news say that “there is no evidence that it was bad decision to stop the medication”. Hello!! The evidence is an innocent child who was taken off medication and died of a seizure. What a tragedy–and yes, it was preventable.
Whatever the cause of Jett’s tragic death, the outcome is the same. A child has been taken from this earth and there is nothing that will bring him back. As a parent who has lost a child, the guilt was overwhelming, even though there was nothing I could do. What adds to this tragedy is that the Travolta’s lives will never be the same and the public and press are adding to their pain. My prayers are with them during this most difficult event that they will ever experience.
The most popular Google searches on the Travoltas include the word ‘autism’. But on my television, when the story is reported (in between pharmaceutical commercials), the word is verboten.
There is an eight hundred pound gorilla sitting in the middle of the room, and although it STINKS to high heaven, it’s being ignored.
How does vitamin B-12 affect dementia, long term deficiency? Why do physicians not routinely check for this deficiency when symptoms are presented to them? Through watching the television series Medical Diagnosis, I became aware that my mother in laws dementia may be caused by long term vitamin B-12 deficiency. The symptoms have been there for many years and she had been diagnosed with the deficiency. She did for a while receive injections but it was not followed through when there was a change in physicians. Is this or could this be a genitic hand me down ? My husband has also been diagnosed with B-12 deficiency; what are his chances of developing dementia if left untreated. His grandfather also had dementia; he was his mothers father. I hope to hear you cover this in one of your television series. thank you for your time. Particia Maestas, corrales New Mexico
I can only say that I feel so sorry for the Travolta family and anything OTHER than that said is just mean.
Peter is an a**… No one knows for sure what happened here and to make statements that are mean just to make a statement is wrong..
Grow up people.. Pray that you will never have to know the pain that the Travolta family is feeling.
Again, God Bless the Travolta’s, hopefully they can move on and remember the life of Jett and be happy.
I am a person with epilepsy. jbMD may have done many rotations in Neurology, but he made a serious misstatement. Jett’s death was not necessarily preventable. If he had intractible epilepsy, then medication was not working. In fact, medication only is successful in approximately 60-70% of cases. Other than brain surgery involving either removal of portions of the brain or seperation of the two brain halves, or the implantion of a Vagus Nerve Stimlator, neither of which has a high success rate, there is nothing else available as treatment options. With over 3 million people in the US diagnosed with epilepsy, when will we see more research into other treatment alternatives? How many other families will be robbed of loved ones due to Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy? 300,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the US alone. According to the CDC, in a ten state study, 1 in 100 people have epilepsy. People with epilepsy are made to feel as though they need to live in the shadows because the rest of society does not understand our condition. Hollywood uses the stereotypical tonic clonic (falling down, convulsing, foaming at the mouth) when they do show seizures. Did you know there are more then 40 types of seizures? They range from looking like you’re staring off into space, to the more violent tonic clonic. Please, check out the Epilepsy Foundation site or Coping-With-Epilepsy site. Get some facts.