Heath Ledger Died of Accidental Overdose

Actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner's office ruled Wednesday.

Link: ABC News: Heath Ledger Died of Accidental Overdose (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=4240260&page=1)

THAT is a shame, but addiction is a bad deal, and drugs kill........

"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 cocktail included a combination of anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers.


Doesn't sound like an "accident" to me. You don't accidentally take that many drugs at once. What kind of "pain" was he in that he needed all of that stuff?

They found some blood in his drug stream.

Doesn't sound like an "accident" to me. You don't accidentally take that many drugs at once. What kind of "pain" was he in that he needed all of that stuff?

Probably withdrawl

Doesn't sound like an "accident" to me. You don't accidentally take that many drugs at once. What kind of "pain" was he in that he needed all of that stuff?

People who are hooked on pharms take a rEdiculous amount of them. An amount that makes you wonder why they didn't overdose earlier. Have you ever heard what Elvis had in his system when he died of a heart attack? Actually, what Ledger had in his system seems rather light compared to what I have heard others doing.

Doesn't sound like an "accident" to me. You don't accidentally take that many drugs at once. What kind of "pain" was he in that he needed all of that stuff?

It wasn't just pain. Some of it's anti-psychotic and anti-depressives. I was telling my friend, I don't care what kind of doctor you are, there's no way you're convincing me to take more than 2 different drugs at one time.

But it wasn't a withdrawl and it wasn't like he was shoving handfuls of pills in his mouth. If anything he was taking all 6 and it had a depressive effect on his system. In other words, it just slowly killed his body/organs over time.

Some in the press are misleading the public in terms of what "accidental" means. He wasn't trying to kill himself (we assume), so in that sense his death was an accident. However, even if he was prescribed all those drugs, no doctor would have him on Xanax AND Valium at the same time. They're both benzodiazepenes and it would not make sense to have him taking both. The same applies to Hydrocodone (Vicadin) and Oxycodone (Oxycontin, possibly percocet, percodin). Both painkiller opiates. So, he knowingly was taking drugs in a manner that is not safe and was not prescribed for him. He probably was doctor shopping, telling different stories to different docs to get all those meds. I suppose to the extent that it was an accident, it was an accident waiting to happen.

In addition. most people who take Oxycontin recreationally, snort or inject in order to defeat the time-release agent and get the full affect. Very unsafe and again, it's hard to classify the outcome as purely "accidental".

So, he knowingly was taking drugs in a manner that is not safe and was not prescribed for him. He probably was doctor shopping, telling different stories to different docs to get all those meds. I suppose to the extent that it was an accident, it was an accident waiting to happen.

In addition. most people who take Oxycontin recreationally, snort or inject in order to defeat the time-release agent and get the full affect. Very unsafe and again, it's hard to classify the outcome as purely "accidental".

Exactly.

Regardless it's still a sad situation. Addiction claims another victim.