MF DOOM's Widow Discloses Hip Hop Legend's Cause Of Death

MF DOOM’s wife, Jasmine Dumile, has finally revealed what led to the rap legend’s 2020 death. Speaking to Leeds Live, Dumile explained her husband was seeking treatment at St. James Hospital in Leeds for a number of conditions, including high blood pressure and kidney disease. There, she said, his health “suddenly deteriorated.” While under a doctor’s care, DOOM was prescribed ACE inhibitors to treat his high blood pressure. After just two doses, Dumile said his tongue and throat began to swell.

On October 21, 2020, just 10 days before DOOM’s death, he called Dumile in distress and complained he couldn’t breathe. As he tried to get off his hospital gurney, he collapsed and suffered respiratory arrest. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions at the time, Dumile said she couldn’t visit her husband in the hospital until October 31. She told investigators, “That’s when the respirator was turned off that was helping him breathe.”

Dumile’s legal team is asking medical staff how often they checked on DOOM and why there was an alleged two-hour delay in giving him medication for his swelling throat. At one point, DOOM’s condition was reportedly improving; his oxygen levels were elevated and he was able to speak with doctors.

Doctors noted the swelling of his tongue, throat and lips was a “rare” side effect of the ACE inhibitors, which caused a condition called angiodema (a swelling similar to hives, but which takes place under the skin instead of on the surface). Following DOOM’s death, the hospital trust carried out a “serious incident investigation” to determine what went wrong. The inquiry into DOOM’s death is reportedly ongoing.

Although MF DOOM died in October 2020, Dumile waited until December 31, 2020 to make the news public. She noted in her Instagram announcement, “My world will never be the same without you.” DOOM was 49 at the time of his death and leaves behind five children.

(Originally written for AllHipHop.)