Pauline Pfeiffer - Death

Death

Pfeiffer spent the rest of her life in Key West with frequent visits to California until her death on October 1, 1951. Her death was first attributed to shock related to her son Gregory's arrest and a subsequent phone call from Ernest that same day. Gregory had been arrested earlier in that day as a male who was caught entering a woman's restroom in a theater. Years later, Gregory became a medical doctor and interpreted the autopsy report and claimed that Pauline died due to a pheochromocytoma tumor on her adrenal gland. His theory was that the phone call from Ernest caused the tumor to secrete excessive adrenalin and then stop. The resultant change in blood pressure caused the shock that killed her.

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