Karen Carpenter's Fatal Ipecac Abuse

American singer Karen Carpenter abused ipecac while battling anorexia nervosa, and the drug contributed to the heart failure that killed her in 1983. She used it to induce vomiting and disclosed that she could take more than 90 ipecac-based laxatives at once, along with 10 levothyroxine pills a day. Ipecac contains emetine, a compound that disrupts cellular respiration and can cause potentially fatal cardiovascular damage. Her mother found her unconscious in her room, and an autopsy later detected large doses of ipecac in her body.

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