Anne Heche died Friday, according to her hometown newspaper, the Los Angeles Times. Or died on Sunday, according to the New York Times and others. Between those dates, the 53-year-old actress was in a state of mortal ambiguity that prompted the media to analyze a legal, even philosophical, question: When is someone really dead? Heche’s family revealed she was brain dead late last week after a car accident on August 5. This prompted some news organizations to report her death, based on a reading of a California law. “A person who has suffered … irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem, is dead,” the statute states. But Heche remained on life support for two more days so her organs could be harvested for donation. When Heche’s publicist confirmed that she had passed away late Sunday night, news organizations published a new round of stories reporting her death. It is not the first time that the death of a celebrity has been accompanied by public confusion. But Heche’s case was particularly unusual, with the date of death dependent on competing definitions of what it means to be dead. Heche was believed to be in critical condition Friday morning, a week after he crashed a Mini Cooper into a Los Angeles home, causing both to catch fire. With no apparent brain activity, she was kept on life support pending evaluation of her organs. Still, TMZ, the entertainment-news website that is often the first to report celebrity deaths, broke a story at 11:19 a.m. time in Los Angeles on Friday under the headline, “Anne Heche Dies at 53.” The story noted, “Her rep tells TMZ Anne is ‘brain dead,’ and under California law that’s the definition of death.” People magazine soon followed with a similar report, as did the LA Times. Both noted in the body of their stories that Heche was legally dead, although her body was still functioning. (The Daily Mail, in an alert carried by Reuters, inaccurately reported that Hetze died on Friday after being removed from the prop; a Daily Mail spokesman said editors had updated its story but not made a correction.) Other news sources clarified the distinction beforehand. The Hollywood Reporter headlined its story Friday: “Anne Heche declared brain dead, still on life support after car crash, rep says.” The Washington Post did about the same. Some of the early reporting was aided by statements from Hetse’s family members who pronounced her dead. News organizations usually rely on family members to confirm the death of a relative. “My brother Atlas and I lost our mom,” Hetse’s son, Homer Lafune, said in a widely reported statement Friday. “After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep sadness beyond words… Rest in peace mom, I love you.” Variety, which noted that Heche was still technically alive, published a statement attributed to Heche’s “family and friends” on Friday: “Today we lost a bright light, a kinder and happier soul, a loving mother and a faithful friend,’ it read in part. The publication published a new story Sunday night, saying she had been taken off life support, ending all signs of life. California law and the family’s statements prompted the LA Times to go ahead with the news of Heche’s death on Friday, said Hillary Manning, a Times spokeswoman. She said newspaper reporters had “confirmed” with members of her family that she had died. But that wasn’t good enough for others. The New York Times said it withheld publication of Heche’s obituary until Sunday, when her death was “officially confirmed” and “out of respect for the family,” according to a spokeswoman, Naseem Amini. This left Heche fans and the general public confused over the weekend. Heche’s Wikipedia page underwent a flurry of revisions as users debated her status, changing her date of death before deleting it entirely at one point. As of Monday night, her listing listed her date of death only as “August 2022,” with a footnote explaining, “there is some confusion as to the date of her death until her official death certificate is released.” Post obituaries editor Adam Bernstein said the paper does not recognize brain death as a clear marker of death. He cited the case of Terri Schiavo, who remained in a vegetative state for seven years as her family engaged in a lengthy legal battle over whether to wean her off a feeding tube. Schiavo’s feeding tube was eventually removed by court order. died in 2005. “It’s black and white. There is no gray area here. If you’re on life support, you’re still alive,” Bernstein said. “Other publications can make their own judgment about when they feel comfortable publishing. I feel comfortable when someone is really dead.” And others saw it that way, despite the family’s statements and California law. “We chose to wait until he was passed away,” said Mike Barnes, editor-in-chief of the Hollywood Reporter, who has written hundreds of articles for the publication, including Heche’s. A person close to the Heche family, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive conversations, sympathized with reporters. “I don’t think anyone did anything journalistically or ethically wrong. The family is not angry with anyone,” this person said. “It was a complicated situation when you keep a body alive to harvest the organs. But that was Anna’s wish. It’s part of her legacy.” The rush to publish the news may tell a larger story about the value of being the first to report a celebrity death in the Internet age, Bernstein noted. Obituaries were once a sleepy corner of daily journalism, but today the death of a prominent figure can generate huge streams of readership. As a result, some news organizations assemble hundreds of “leads”—scripted stories about well-known people that can be published within minutes of a confirmed death. But some deaths are not deaths at all. There is a long history of premature reporting on the death of famous people, stretching back decades. Causes range from hoaxes, accidental posting of advances and inaccurate information, usually from family members, business associates and government officials. News organizations, for example, prematurely reported the death of rock star Tom Petty in 2017 based on a source at the Los Angeles Police Department. Actress Tanya Roberts was reported dead a day before she died last year due to misinformation from her publicist, who was based on Robert’s partner. ‘Leave It to Beaver’ co-star Tony Dow’s managers were forced to retract a premature Facebook post announcing his death last month after his wife mistakenly told them the terminally ill actor had been pronounced dead. He died a day later. “You have to be careful about being first but being wrong,” Bernstein said. “If you play it conservatively, you might sacrifice a few clicks, but readers will trust you more in the long run.”
