Joe Rago loved nothing more than an all-nighter with his Phi Delta Alpha brothers followed by early morning breakfast at Lou’s, the local greasy spoon par excellence. This, according to Dartmouth Alumni Magazine’s obituary of the 2005 Dartmouth graduate and 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner for Editorial Writing.
The gifted young Wall Street Journal editor was found dead in his apartment in Manhattan’s East Village on July 20, 2017. He was only 34 years old at the time of his death.
What followed was a nearly three-month long investigation into his cause of death. During that time, conspiracy theories took root. As news of his passing spread, conspiracy theory communities found enough to latch onto even with nothing there. In a comment thread on the /conspiracy page of popular content sharing website Reddit, the internet detectives were quickly on the case.
One user, seemingly at random, decided there was a connection between Rago’s tragic death and Hillary Clinton. Although the logic beggars belief, the thought goes that Hillary was ultimately responsible due to investments she had made into pharmaceutical company Veropharm. Veropharm had recently been acquired by industry giant Abbott Pharmaceuticals, for the express purpose of helping the latter to increase their presence in the Russian market. Shortly before his passing, Rago, in his capacity as a Wall Street Journal editor and journalist, supposedly requested an interview with Russian officials to discuss Hillary’s business dealings.
Weak sauce, we agree.
This seems like a very human happening. Faced with a reminder of the fragility we all possess, and the shock at seeing someone so young felled seemingly out of nowhere, some out there resorted to fantastical explanations, unable or unwilling to accept the facts in front of them. However, the fact remains that John Rago’s death was due to complications with his health, rather than a conspiracy.
The NYC Medical Examiner’s autopsy findings indicated the cause of death to have been natural, a result of a rare condition known as sarcoidosis. The disease causes severe inflammation of the organs, but is still poorly understood within the medical community.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, explained how the disease manifests:
Normally, your immune system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. For example, it sends special cells to protect organs that are in danger. These cells release chemicals that recruit other cells to isolate and destroy the harmful substance. Inflammation occurs during this process. Once the harmful substance is gone, the cells and the inflammation go away. In people who have sarcoidosis, the inflammation doesn’t go away. Instead, some of the immune system cells cluster to form lumps called granulomas (gran-yu-LO-mas) in various organs in your body.
The disease can be especially harmful because, although it is only fatal in 5% of cases, it can often go undiagnosed. According to the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, the condition is difficult to diagnose and presents few treatment options. Not only that, but many patients can go undiagnosed or incorrectly diagnosed for years, and even an accurate diagnosis is no guarantee of a quick and successful treatment.