At least three South Side residents died of causes related to last week’s heat wave, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
David González, 44, died of heatstroke on Saturday in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood. Hypertension, diabetes and obesity were contributing factors, according to a Sunday report from the medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled accidental. Two other heat-related deaths were also reported on Saturday.
An autopsy for Mike Rodríguez, 57, showed that he died Friday of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with heat stress and diabetes as contributing factors, in a McKinley Park home. An autopsy for Barbara Whigham, 71, showed that she died Friday in an Englewood apartment as a result of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, complicated by heat stress, asthma and obesity.
All three victims had underlying health conditions that were complicated by the extreme heat. Relatives of the deceased could not be reached for comment.
A 69-year-old man also died of heat-related causes in Evanston Wednesday, according to records from the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The man’s name has not been released.
Last week, heat indexes across the Chicago area climbed to as high as 105 degrees F. An extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service was in place from noon Monday through Thursday night.
Hot, humid weather poses a major health risk to older adults and those with pre-existing conditions.
“Extreme heat affects the body through both direct heat-related illnesses and by exacerbating a wide range of chronic conditions,” said Dr. Alison Tothy, an emergency medicine physician at UChicago Medicine.
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Tothy said the physical effects of heat go through stages, progressing from heat rashes and cramps to more severe symptoms like headaches, dizziness and loss of consciousness. The final stage, heatstroke, can lead to organ damage or death.
Heatstroke can develop from a single, overwhelming exposure to extreme heat or from repeated exposure to high temperatures over multiple days.
“If you’re continually exposed to heat and you don’t recover appropriately, you can have this sequential buildup of exhausting your body,” Tothy said. “Your body doesn’t have the reserve.”
In Chicago, overall summer average temperatures have warmed by 1.9 degrees since 1970 as Midwest summers become more humid because of human-caused climate change. But that’s not the whole story: Average lows on summer nights have increased by at least 2.5 degrees in that same time.
Muggy temperatures that persist into the night can pose a major risk to the health of anyone without access to effective cooling or adequate hydration.
Dr. Alana Lewis, a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, said extreme temperatures can also lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, like heart attacks, strokes and arrhythmias.
“Your heart’s having to essentially work harder,” she said. Lewis said heat can also worsen air quality, which contributes to cardiac stress.
According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, the city had an average of three heat-related deaths per year from 2020 to 2024.
Yet heat-related deaths are likely to be underreported, according to Dr. Howard Ehrman, a former Chicago assistant health commissioner and co-founder of the community advocacy group People’s Response Network. Heat exacerbates existing conditions, which are usually listed as the immediate cause of death.
Heat can also cause health problems and lead to deaths weeks or even months after a heat wave is over, Ehrman added.
“If you have two or three of these underlying conditions, it doesn’t mean you’ll die immediately,” he said. “It stresses your body out and even in a good hospital, you may end up staying a week or two and then dying later.”