Board Thread:Arrow discussions/@comment-9346948-20160427235332/@comment-26412696-20160429093621

Okay, just want to make a point here about how Laurel died, even though the doctors said she would be fine. Laurel died of an embolism (I'm assuming a pulmonary embolism, though upon more research arterial is just as likely), which, to paraphrase Wikipedia, is a sudden blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that traveled from elsewhere in the body via the bloodstream. On average, between 1/6 and 1/3 of all people who experience a pulmonary embolism pass away as a result of the condition, and, "Mortality from untreated PEs is said to be 26%." These things can happen quite suddenly, and arterial embolisms often present as strokes or heart attacks.

Was this well explained in the show? No, not at all. But sometimes post-surgery complications can happen, and unfortunately your risk for embolisms arises after having surgery performed on several sections of the body, including the belly. It was just a freak medical complication that nobody caught, unfortunately, which kind of makes her death all the more tragic imho.

I'm not saying that it's in any way great writing, but hopefully this clarifies things a little.