After months of stomach pain, Münzer was admitted to hospital on the morning of March 12. By 7pm, doctors had decided to operate to stop bleeding from his stomach, but shortly afterwards his liver and then kidneys failed. His condition by this point was too severe for a blood transfusion—he died on the morning of March 14, aged 31.[1][2]
The autopsy gave the cause of death as dystrophic multiple-organ-failure.[3] Some of the specific autopsy findings:[3]
An extremely muscular physique, with an almost complete absence of subcutaneous fat
Affecting the liver were numerous table-tennis-ball-sized tumors, typical for doping; half the liver consisted simply of a crumbly mass, similar to polystyrene (Styrofoam)
Diminutive testes
Cardiac hypertrophy (Münzer's heart weighed 636g; a normal man's heart usually weighs 300–350g)
Münzer's electrolytes were also completely out of balance, and his potassium levels were extremely high. Traces of about twenty different drugs were found, along with acute toxicity (perhaps caused by a stimulant).
Schwarzenegger sent a wreath to Munzer's funeral in Styria, with the message 'A last greeting to a friend.'