
QUEENS — The death of an 81-year-old man during last week's heat wave was attributable to the heat, the Medical Examiner's office said.
The Queens resident, whom the office declined to identify, died in his home last Thursday, the second day of the heat wave. Temperatures that day reached 97 degrees, and the heat index made it feel closer to 102 degrees.
The Medical Examiner's office said that "underlying health issues" also contributed to the death, but that the death was primarily heat-related.
The official cause of death was hyperthermia due to environmental exposure.