Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Heath Ledger Remembrance Forum
Heath Ledger's Accidental Overdose - Discussion Thread (Was: Breaking News)
Phillip Dampier:
--- Quote from: souxi on February 06, 2008, 12:12:34 pm ---So finally we know, it was an accident. What I don,t understand is, and forgive me for being dense, but HOW did all those combined drugs actually kill him? I mean did they cause him to have a heart attack, or just fall asleep and not wake up? Poor Heath. :'( :'( :'( :'(
--- End quote ---
Many medications work synergistically when combined, occasionally amplifying their potency when combined. But in this case, it is more probable that Heath built up a tolerance for the medications, especially Oxy and Hydrocodone, which means you have to take more of them to get the same effect. Unfortunately, although you may achieve some symptom relief, the physical impact of the medications in their ever-growing dosages or combinations can have a cumulative devastating effect on your body. In this case, it likely depressed his system sufficiently to cause his heart to stop.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Verona on February 06, 2008, 12:43:14 pm ---"Me neither." And it would stand to reason that if he did indeed have a respiratory infection, there would have been strong antibiotics around. An early report said that antibiotics prescribed in England were found, but I guess that was false.
--- End quote ---
And apparently he wasn't taking any antibiotics at the time of his death.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 06, 2008, 12:41:16 pm ---So he might just have stopped breathing?
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on February 06, 2008, 12:42:30 pm ---Yup.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, Leslie.
Toast:
....
"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," medical examiner's spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.
The drugs are the generic names for
the painkillers OxyContin and Hydrocodone,
the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, and
the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom.
None of the drugs were taken in concentrations high enough to be lethal on their own, the report said, but the combination was deadly.
The actor was reported to have prescriptions from several doctors in the U.S. and the U.K.
Police said there were no illegal drugs in his apartment and no indications that he took his own life.
....
CBC.ca
Phillip Dampier:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 06, 2008, 12:28:24 pm ---In other words--and this will not be popular on this thread at this time--Heath bears at least some responsibility for his own death.
I was thinking this. ... :(
--- End quote ---
I think this depends on who gave him the medication. If he was buying some of it off the street and it was not prescribed to him, then he does bear some responsibility here. I am more sympathetic to people to develop a tolerance to medications or a dependence which leads them to some abuse of the drugs. Again, big pharma has a vested interest in hiding the powerful physical addictions some painkillers have, and I don't blame people for prescription drug addiction. If he took them in combination, as prescribed, I don't blame Heath at all. I blame the prescription mills that some doctors practice, without tracking prior prescriptions. It's a strong argument for a national tracking database doctors can use to track prescriptions, regardless of who prescribed them.
Good people die from prescription drug issues every day, so I am less interested in finding fault and more interested in finding ways to prevent future tragedies.
Verona:
None of the drugs were taken in concentrations high enough to be lethal on their own, the report said, but the combination was deadly.
Which is why I wish they would not use the term "abuse." Abuse suggests that he took more than he was supposed to.
A very likely scenario: Heath went to different doctors (which is common for people who travel a lot), told them what he had been taking and said it didn't work for him, so they prescribed something different. The doctors may not have realized that he would keep taking the one he said didn't work anymore, so they didn't advise him about the interactions. So Heath, in his mind, had disclosed what else he was taking... but wasn't told they'd be dangerous to take together, so he assumed--as they were all both prescribed and disclosed--that they were all safe in combination.
This is what I choose to believe.
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