Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Heath Ledger Remembrance Forum

Heath Ledger's Accidental Overdose - Discussion Thread (Was: Breaking News)

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moremojo:

--- Quote from: opinionista on February 06, 2008, 02:49:34 pm ---There's a big difference IMO between being a drug abuser and someone trying desperately to sleep.
--- End quote ---
I think part of the problem here is a semantic one, and that people are misunderstanding one another. I suspect that from a medical professional's perspective, taking a drug for a purpose or to an extent for which it was not intended is seen as abuse, and that the motives are considered, if at all, as secondary in reaching that conclusion. This is how I'm interpreting the presence of the word "abuse" in the report. Essentially, that is suggesting that all those drugs should not have been together in one person at one time, and that a person consciously ingesting all those substances at once or in sequence so that they could act together in a potentially (if unintentionally) lethal way was arguably abusing them.

opinionista:
I want to clear up that what I mean by desperate measures is for example, when Ambien did not work, Heath went ahead and took something stronger. Hasn't it happened to you with headaches for example? You take two tylenols and it doesn't go away so you go ahead and take another or try advil. I think it was something like that.

Ellemeno:
Is there a report of the actual amounts, or concentrations, of these drugs in his system?  I would like someone who knows how to interpret that to tell us their opinion. 

My disappointment [not the right word, not sure what is, right now] now is with Heath.  He was a very intelligent man, and he surely must have known some of the bare minimum info on those drugs.  I know that his directors loved him, and felt a special connection with him, but to the film industry, he was a commodity required to make a money-making film, like a camera, or a microphone, or the lumber required to build a set.  But even more necessary to keep working, because cameras and lumber are replaceable, and big stars are one of a kind.  So a film industry that wants to pull in the money would keep him working, and commodify him.  Very short-sighted, but raking money in often is these days.

So I don't really hold the set doctors or any other doctors too responsible here.  It was up to Heath to act responsibly for his own safety and well-being.

Heath was young (and thus possibly still in the "I'm immortal" stage), extremely fit and physically courageous ("I can handle this, I'd like to try.").  He was highly creative and brimming with ideas he wanted to accomplish (the music videos, managing Grace Woodroofe, preparing to direct The Queen's Gambit, and who knows what, besides the films he was acting in).  He was pining for his daughter (and I believe that was agony for him).  He was crossing many time zones frequently (which is extremely depleting and confounding).  He was without a girlfriend (and I think he's demonstrated that he is happiest when in a relationship).

I can't imagine the stress he lived with.  I wish he could have found a balance between that time two years ago when he was self-reportedly just making lunch, washing the lunch dishes, making dinner, taking care of his girls, and the supersonic, hyper-paced life he had been living recently. 

louisev:

--- Quote from: Ellemeno on February 06, 2008, 03:04:23 pm ---Is there a report of the actual amounts, or concentrations, of these drugs in his system?  I would like someone who knows how to interpret that to tell us their opinion. 
--- End quote ---

No, there isn't.  Such detail was likely to have been shared with the family however, which is probably why they made the statement about it not having been a "large amount of drugs."  It clearly didn't have to be a "large" amount, but a lethal mix.

opinionista:

--- Quote from: Ellemeno on February 06, 2008, 03:04:23 pm ---My disappointment now is with Heath.  He was a very intelligent man, and he surely must have known some of the bare minimum info on those drugs. 
--- End quote ---

Nobody is perfect Elle. A lot of highly intelligent people think prescription drugs are safe or honestly believe taking one more or mixing with other pills won't hurt. Heath was an actor not a doctor or a nurse or a chemist for that matter. Let's not judge him. It was an accident and it happens to a lot of people.

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