Coroner: Jerry Lewis death was from end-stage heart disease

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Authorities in Las Vegas say Jerry Lewis died of heart disease, but the wording of his death certificate differs from what was reported earlier.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said Monday that Lewis' official cause of death was end-stage cardiac disease and peripheral vascular disease.

Lewis was the clownish comic hailed as an artistic genius and the host for decades of annual muscular dystrophy telethons.

He died Sunday of natural causes in Las Vegas at age 91.

Fudenberg says coroner deputies had been told Lewis died of ischemic (ih-SKEE'-mihk) cardiomyopathy.

Ferozan Malal is the hospice and palliative medicine physician in Las Vegas who signed Lewis' death certificate.

She tells The Associated Press that peripheral vascular disease and ischemic cardiomyopathy both fall under the category of end-stage cardiac disease.