Dr. David Gelmont announced that Henson had died from Streptococcus pneumoniae, an infection that causes bacterial pneumonia. However, on May 29, Gelmont reclassified it as organ dysfunction resulting from streptococcal toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. Gelmont noted Henson might have been saved had he gone to the hospital just a few hours sooner. Medical expert Lawrence D. Altman also stated that Henson's death "may have shocked many Americans who believed that bacterial infections no longer could kill with such swiftness." A lack of familiarity with this possibility, combined with the then-recent deaths of prominent men (including Rock Hudson, Liberace, Roy Cohn, and others) whose AIDS deaths had first been publicly euphemized as other illnesses due to AIDS's pervasive stigma, led to a false but widespread rumor that Henson had died of AIDS--a rumor that was swiftly and directly refuted by Dr. Gelmont. Frank Oz believed the stress of negotiating with Disney led to Henson's death, stating in a 2021 interview: "The Disney deal is probably what killed Jim. It made him sick." Henson was cremated and in 1992, his ashes were scattered near Taos in New Mexico.