Dr. Lauren Bush King

Dr. Lauren Bush King passed away on November 24, 2025, at the age of 45.

Lauren graduated at the top of her class from Hazelwood East High School (1999), where she met the love of her life, Patrick. They both attended St. Louis University, where she earned a BA in Mathematics (2003) and her MD in Internal Medicine (2007). Lauren dedicated her career to serving others at Mercy as a physician.

Growing up in North St. Louis County, Lauren participated as a valued member of multiple sports teams in high school and was a regular at Jamestown Mall, where she spent a summer staffing the theatre concession stand and getting her friends into free movie premieres when she wasn’t visiting Patrick at Waldenbooks.

Once she started Med School at SLU, she and Patrick relocated to south St. Louis City, in a house adjacent to Tilles Park. Within a short span of time, they had purchased a house, adopted a dog (Jake), gotten married, and settled into a cozy life together.

In 2010, while finishing up her last year of residency at Mercy St. Louis, they were given the greatest gift of their lives when Xander was born. After Lauren found a permanent practice to join out in west St. Louis County, they eventually moved to Ballwin. 

In January 2014, tragedy struck as an unspecified illness attacked Lauren and put her in the ICU for 8 months. There were four separate incidents where her family was called in and told she would not survive another 24 hours. Each time, Lauren pulled through, defying the odds.

Eventually, she got to go home, but her lungs were permanently damaged from that point forward.

Ever the fighter, Lauren refused to give up and recovered enough to go back to work as a physician for a few years. During that time, she was able to go on vacations, go out to eat, see movies, and live a relatively normal life. She even went to Disney World and Universal Studios, where she got to ride most of the rides with Xander and Patrick!

Over time, her lungs worsened, leading to another hospital stay in 2019, and another night where we were told she wouldn’t likely survive the night. Once again, Lauren proved them wrong!

Despite her deteriorating lung function, a global pandemic, and having a kid in school, that was the last time Lauren was hospitalized until the very end. From that point forward, we were lucky enough to experience six more years of birthday parties, holidays, movies, walks with our new dog, Angel, and watching Xander grow into the empathetic, caring, wonderful young adult he has become. Lauren and her family spent time at the Botanical Garden, the Zoo, and school events. While she wasn’t able to join, she was able to see Xander go on amazing trips to Greece, Italy, Iceland, and Australia, and many Boy Scout camping events. 

Lauren never wanted her limitations to keep her family from living the best life they could live. 

Brilliant and beautiful, Lauren loved sports (especially Cardinals baseball and Billikens basketball), video games (especially role-playing games), punk rock (Bad Religion and Rise Against in particular), reading (especially Stephen King), and animals–polar bears most of all! Even before she became a doctor, she was the person everyone went to for advice. She was a steadying presence for all who knew her.

She is survived by her husband Patrick, son Xander, parents Bill and Erlynne Bush, brother David, extended family, friends, colleagues, and countless patients whose lives she brightened and enriched. Lauren was our North Star–guiding us through the darker parts of life. Though she’s now beyond reach, her light continues to illuminate our path.

Services: Funeral service at the SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory, 14960 Manchester Road at Holloway, Ballwin, Saturday, Dec 6, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to NRDC.org in her name. Visitation Friday, December 5, 2025 from 4-8 p.m. Friends may sign the family’s on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.