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Experts Say Infection, Blood Clot Could Have Killed Otto Warmbier

The student had returned from North Korea in what doctors described as a state of "unresponsive wakefulness"

Neurologists are lending their expert opinion to help explain what may have led to the death of Otto Warmbier, saying an infection or blood clot could have killed him, NBC News reported.

Warmbier's family said he died Monday just days after returning from North Korea, when doctors described his state as "unresponsive wakefulness," or a persistent vegetative state.

Neurologists suggested that Warmbier could have died so suddenly after returning because he may have had pneumonia or another infection, which could have led his family to focus on quality of life over treatment.

Another expert suggested that his vegetative state would have made it easy for his body to form a blood clot, and that the long flight from North Korea could have made the clot more likely to break off and travel to the lungs.

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