Coroner: McDougal Death Natural

Imprisoned Whitewater figure James B. McDougal had ingested a toxic but non-lethal amount of an antidepressant drug, but a medical examiner said he died of natural causes.

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McDougal's death from heart failure while he was in solitary confinement at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth was unrelated to the high level of Prozac in his body, said Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani.

"In our opinion, there is no indication of foul play, no indication of poisons," he said. "We are pretty confident that he died of natural causes."

But McDougal's Prozac dosage in prison had been about three times the usual amount before his March 8 death, the medical examiner said.

While the normal recommended dosage is 20 milligrams daily, McDougal had been taking 60 milligrams for depression.

"Anything above therapeutic levels is toxic, when a patient begins exhibiting symptoms," Peerwani said. "But Prozac is considered a safe drug and this was not in the lethal range."

Peerwani said he did not know McDougal's psychiatric history and could not explain why the prison and medical facility staff administered such a large dosage to him.

Sue Beasley, a spokeswoman for the Federal Medical Center, declined comment today. Warden George Killinger did not return a telephone call from The Associated Press.

Peerwani said that toxicology tests ordered on McDougal's blood and a histological examination of his tissue took more than a month. "We were studying all different types of possible causes; we looked for heavy metal poisons and that took some time," he said.

He said Lasix, a diuretic medication McDougal had been taking for high blood pressure, was not found in his blood.

"The only drug we detected on the forensic side was Prozac in the blood," Peerwani said.

McDougal had been on other medications for a variety of health problems, including a heart ailment and the high blood pressure.

A former friend and confidant of Clinton's, the 57-year-old McDougal was in an isolated jail cell in the Federal Medical Center on Fort Worth's south side when he collapsed.

He was serving a three-year prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud the government.