02/06/2008
Heath Ledger Death an Accidental Prescription Drug Overdose
The results of Heath Ledger's autopsy have been released:
"The New York City medical examiner has found the cause of actor Heath Ledger's death to be acute intoxication by the combined effects of a mix of prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety medication. The medical examiner said in its ruling that a combination of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine had been found in Ledger's tissues after preliminary tests showed no result. 'We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications,' a spokesman for the medical examiner's office, Charles Hirsch, said in a statement."
Ledger's family released a statement following the report, which you can read AFTER THE JUMP...
***STATEMENT from HEATH LEDGER's FAMILLY***
We remain humble as parents and a family, among millions of people worldwide who may have suffered the tragic loss of a child. Few can understand the hollow, wrenching, and enduring agony parents silently suffer when a child predeceases them. Today's results put an end to speculation, but our son's beautiful spirit and enduring memory will forever remain in our hearts.
While no medications were taken in excess, we learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy. Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage.
Our family enjoyed an extremely happy two week visit with Heath just prior to the New Year. Those recent precious days will stay with us forever. We as a family feel privileged to have some of his amazing magic moments captured in film. To most of the world Heath was an actor of immeasurable talent and promise. To those who knew him personally, Heath was a consummate artist whose passions also included photography, music, chess and directing. We knew Heath as a loving father, as our devoted son, and as a loyal and generous brother and friend.
We treasure our beautiful granddaughter Matilda (to our dear Michelle) as well as an unbelievably wonderful network of close friends, forever, around the world. Families rarely experience the uplifting, warm and massive outpouring of grief and support as have we, from every corner of the planet. This has deeply and profoundly touched our hearts and lives. We are eternally grateful.
At this moment we respectfully request the worldwide media allow us time to grieve privately, without the intrusions associated with press and photography.
Posted 10:44 AM EST by Andy Towle in Brokeback Mountain, Deaths, Heath Ledger, News | Permalink
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How did they determine he was abusing these drugs? Is there evidence he's been taking this combination for some time?
It's possible he accidentally combined these drugs. They said he was sick the day he died, and that he'd been suffering from insomnia. Maybe he just took the wrong drug by mistake. I've done that when I was sick - fortunately, it was nothing that would interact with the other meds I was taking.
No drugs were found in his stomach, IIRC, so he hadn't taken any additional pills within a few hours of his death. He'd just returned from Europe, where some of his prescriptions were written. Maybe he'd been taking a different set of anti-anxiety and sleep drugs in Europe. When he returned to New York, he brought the European drugs with him, but starting taking his US drugs again - while some of the European drugs were still in his system.
Posted by: Drake | Feb 7, 2008 1:25:52 AM
The way that people get these meds are if they are very stressed out and in a lot of pain, or the other way around. You don''t know if he had been seriously injured in his lifetime. Temazepem can be ordered for sleep when alot of other things do not work. One of the other meds taken used to have alcohol in it, it also helps to make one sleep. I think he did not realize that the alcohol combo was very dangerous with the other meds. Most of you love to pass judgement. How about you take some med courses or pharmacy courses and find out the truth? Maybe then some of you could find your soul. Remember "Judge not, lest ye be judged."
Posted by: POdQueen | Feb 7, 2008 7:15:36 AM
Crispy: the autopsy report for River Phoenix stated that he had been drinking Nyquil on top of everything else he was doing. I didn't say that Nyquil was the only thing that killed him. But, thanks for clarifying what I should have. Peace.
Posted by: mike | Feb 7, 2008 12:13:37 PM
my father was on alprazolam and diazepam while in the hospital for a stroke...he would periodically have seizures, and they used these two medications, as well as, six others to treat his condition...these two meds would knock him out for hours.
Posted by: cliff | Feb 7, 2008 2:27:32 PM
His death is a shame. He was so talented and sensitive. Well is good to know it was no suicide but a terrible accident, although it is still terrible. Maybe now stupid a**holes like David Hauslab from Queerty and other gay blogs realize that making jokes about the death of Heath was in very bad taste and irrespectful. You see a**hole David he did not killed himself on Tuesday go get more publicity. What you have to do a**hole David is to drop the plane to Amsterdam in the middle of the Atlantic on Tuesday so that you and your blogs get more hits and more publicity. A**hole.
Posted by: Oscar | Feb 7, 2008 9:45:28 PM
My fault was with the EMT responders who basically pronounced him dead moments after arriving on site. Had this been in a hospital setting the staff would have "coded" him for much longer time than was expended in the loft.
Posted by: Hadassah Weinreb | Feb 8, 2008 1:49:42 AM
The death was tragic but is merely an indicator that prescription drug abuse doesn't respect economic classes or gender. As the director of Novus Medical Detox we see many people addicted to alcohol and/or opioids. Most of the people addicted to opioids like OxyContin were put on these by medical doctors. They became addicted/dependent to the drugs and can't stop without terrible withdrawal symptoms. However, the biggest problem is increasing abuse by teens. We have had patients who started abusing prescription drugs when they were 12. These young people tell us stories about how many friends they have lost to prescription drug overdoses.
This is a prescription drug epidemic.
Steve Hayes
http://novusdetox.com
Posted by: detoxer | Mar 7, 2008 5:33:25 PM
The death was tragic but is merely an indicator that prescription drug abuse doesn't respect economic classes or gender. As the director of Novus Medical Detox we see many people addicted to alcohol and/or opioids. Most of the people addicted to opioids like OxyContin were put on these by medical doctors. They became addicted/dependent to the drugs and can't stop without terrible withdrawal symptoms. However, the biggest problem is increasing abuse by teens. We have had patients who started abusing prescription drugs when they were 12. These young people tell us stories about how many friends they have lost to prescription drug overdoses.
This is a prescription drug epidemic.
Steve Hayes
http://novusdetox.com
Posted by: detoxer | Mar 7, 2008 5:33:41 PM