Drake University student Lydia Gale Clark died from an undiagnosed heart condition after an apparent night of binge drinking on her 21st birthday.
The Des Moines Register has more:
Friends said Lydia Clark had taken about 16 shots of alcohol Friday evening while out drinking at various bars with friends, according to a police report that linked her death to alcohol consumption.
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Clark started drinking at about 9:30 p.m. on Friday and continued for about six hours, said Ivey Bruton, a childhood friend who was with Clark when she died.
Clark occasionally stumbled that night in high heels to various bars and people's homes, but did not appear dangerously intoxicated, said Bruton, a junior at Kansas State University.
Clark's father, Brad, told the Register that his daughter had an undiagnosed heart condition that contributed to her death.
According to KCCI, Drake University released a statement on Clark's death:
"It is with sadness that Drake University confirms that Lydia Clark, from Meriden, Kansas, passed away on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Lydia was a junior international relations and rhetoric major. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her."
Clark's untimely death inspired an editorial in the Iowa State Daily about the dangers of binge drinking. "We are neither condemning nor condoning that level of alcohol consumption or passing judgment on her in any way, but this event is a tragedy that should serve as a reminder of the highest magnitude to students of all classes and ages that, when taken in too much excess, alcohol is not merely intoxicating, but deadly," the paper's editorial board wrote.