Death
Hart suffered serious injuries in 1978 when struck by a city bus. The accident severely damaged his kidneys. He told his family very little of the accident. Diagnosed with Bright's disease during the late 1980s, he died of a heart attack on November 21, 1990, at the Hart family mansion. He was cremated.
Dean's death had a severe effect on his brother Bret, making him extremely distraught as he felt that they had grown apart too much in their later years. He was unsatisfied with how their last interactions had ended up, leaving him feeling like their relationship never got to recover like he wanted, and that in difference from their younger brother Owen, who died in 1999, affected things between them that could have been said and sorted out, but never were. Bret was also never offered time off by WWF or Vince McMahon, and he wrestled the next day.
Family friend and fellow wrestler Dory Funk Jr. was also very affected, stating that he felt like he had lost one of his own children since their families had always been so close.
Dean was the first of the Hart family to suffer an early death. Dean's death shook the family's feeling of aplomb and the sense of invincibility that they had developed as a tight knit group, semi-isolated from mainstream society outside of the wrestling business. His sister, Diana Hart, stated in her book that had any members of the Hart family been tested as a compatible donor, a kidney transplant might have saved his life. However, this option was never properly discussed by the family. His brother Bret has stated that the family was aware of the possibility of a transplant but that Dean had not been following the doctor's instruction about his diet and not done his daily dialysis as he had been told. This resulted in Dean dying unexpectedly at home before he could be taken to the hospital by their father.
