Prescription drugs killed Ledger
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Accidental Pill Overdose Killed Ledger
By Amy Westfeldt
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
New York (AP) -- Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and other prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday.
The cause of death was "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.
The drugs are the generic names for the painkiller OxyContin, the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom. Hydrocodone is a prescription painkiller.
Borakove wouldn't say what concentrations of each drug were found in Ledger's blood, or whether one drug played a greater part than another in causing his death.
"What you're looking at here is the cumulative effects of these medications together," she said.
The ruling comes two weeks after the 28-year-old Australian-born actor was found dead in the bed of his rented SoHo apartment. Police found bottles of six types of prescription drugs in his bedroom and bathroom, and a rolled-up $20 bill near the bed.
Ledger's family returned to the actor's hometown of Perth, Australia, on Tuesday to prepare for his funeral. Arrangements were private.
In a statement released through Ledger's publicist, the actor's father, Kim, said Wednesday: "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."
Heath Ledger was discovered by his masseuse Jan. 22 after she arrived for an appointment that afternoon. She entered his bedroom to set up for the massage and found him unresponsive, and proceeded to call Mary-Kate Olsen three times over the next 9 minutes before dialing 911. Ledger had been dead for some time, and police say no foul play occurred.
Ledger, nominated for an Oscar for his role in "Brokeback Mountain," had returned to New York from London, where he had been filming a $30 million Terry Gilliam film, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," days before his death. He said in a November interview that his roles in the Batman movie "The Dark Knight" and the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" had taken a toll.
"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he had taken two Ambien pills, which only gave him an hour of sleep.
I'm sorry, but what does a 28-year-old need six different depressant/sleeping medications for? I'm not a doctor, but it seems to me that's a basic question that should have been asked by whoever he was seeing and prescribed these things. Especially, when the combination can be a killer. And not to be unkind, but I have to wonder if Ledger, having apparently given up the illegal stuff, didn't just move on to the prescription alternative. This was an accident waiting to happen.
By Amy Westfeldt
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
New York (AP) -- Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and other prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday.
The cause of death was "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.
The drugs are the generic names for the painkiller OxyContin, the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom. Hydrocodone is a prescription painkiller.
Borakove wouldn't say what concentrations of each drug were found in Ledger's blood, or whether one drug played a greater part than another in causing his death.
"What you're looking at here is the cumulative effects of these medications together," she said.
The ruling comes two weeks after the 28-year-old Australian-born actor was found dead in the bed of his rented SoHo apartment. Police found bottles of six types of prescription drugs in his bedroom and bathroom, and a rolled-up $20 bill near the bed.
Ledger's family returned to the actor's hometown of Perth, Australia, on Tuesday to prepare for his funeral. Arrangements were private.
In a statement released through Ledger's publicist, the actor's father, Kim, said Wednesday: "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."
Heath Ledger was discovered by his masseuse Jan. 22 after she arrived for an appointment that afternoon. She entered his bedroom to set up for the massage and found him unresponsive, and proceeded to call Mary-Kate Olsen three times over the next 9 minutes before dialing 911. Ledger had been dead for some time, and police say no foul play occurred.
Ledger, nominated for an Oscar for his role in "Brokeback Mountain," had returned to New York from London, where he had been filming a $30 million Terry Gilliam film, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," days before his death. He said in a November interview that his roles in the Batman movie "The Dark Knight" and the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" had taken a toll.
"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he had taken two Ambien pills, which only gave him an hour of sleep.
I'm sorry, but what does a 28-year-old need six different depressant/sleeping medications for? I'm not a doctor, but it seems to me that's a basic question that should have been asked by whoever he was seeing and prescribed these things. Especially, when the combination can be a killer. And not to be unkind, but I have to wonder if Ledger, having apparently given up the illegal stuff, didn't just move on to the prescription alternative. This was an accident waiting to happen.
Comments
My mother is a doctor, and one time when I was in pain she prescribed me about 3 different pain killers at once, made me get all of them, but had me sticking to one. It is at the patient's hand if they follow the doctor's orders.
I suppose sometimes a situation warrants the different medication. Some tablets may induce sleep, others create awareness. Some may fight depression, others may be painkillers.
I'd be a little reluctant to condemn his medico until more details emerge.
And that is true. I'm sure it can be warranted. But I'll bet your mom kept a personal count of every pill that went in your mouth, or trusted you explicitly to follow her orders. I don't mean to jump on the doctors so much. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, as JohnDrake says below, Ledger didn't shop around a bit. Junkies do it all the time. And it is the patient's responsibility to follow the doc's orders and reveal what other med they might be taking. I don't want to sound like Tom Cruise, but there is simply no way in hell that a healthy, 28-year-old male, with good looks, a lovely daughter, a loving family and a career as a movie star, has a legitimate reason for having six different kinds of pain-killers, anti-depressants and sleeping pills in his body. Britney Spears isn't that sick, and she's is one sick young lady. Maybe it's the narcissism that gets me, and I think there has to be a good deal of it to think one's life is that messed up you need all those drugs when you're 28, a movie star, etc ... Very, very sad indeed and so unnecessary.
A member of my family suffered from depression some years ago. It's a disease; and your looks, family support, success, or wealth have no bearing on it whatsoever. You can be the most beautiful, most successful person on the planet with the most supportive family and still suffer from horrible depression.
If Ledger did suffer from even mild depression, and he didn't have a caregiver monitoring his intake of medication, it would have been very easy for him to go to multiple doctors - a common practice in this day and age of specialization - and innocently get drugs which, when taken in certain combinations could be fatal. I'm the primary caregiver for both my parents and I literally need a spreadsheet to keep up with all their various meds and dosages. Every time one of them goes to see a specialist, we always have to take care to go over what they take now to make certain that any new prescriptions introduced won't affect them adversely.
It's all too easy spiral out of control in this day and age where the solution to every physical and emotional problem seemingly is to "take a pill".
So I wouldn't be so quick to condemn Ledger on this, especially when we have absolutely no knowledge at all of his physical and mental state prior to his death.
I don't want to sound as I'm giving a lecture but it infuriates me to no end, and it's not just you as other people do it as well, whenever people say 'but s/he's a movie star...rich...famous etc, what do they have to be depressed about?'
Let me be clear. I'm not talking about the ordinary depression that everybody feels; the 'how are you feeling?' 'I'm a bit depressed. I had a pretty bad day at work today etc..' Rather I'm speaking of clinical depression; the depression that can really wreck lives. It is a truly horrible thing and is real as any physical disease.
Two more points; you say that "Spears isn't that sick, and she's is one sick young lady." How do you know that she isn't that sick? Also, you speak of narcissism, yet if someone is truly suffering, then what is so narcissistic about it? I mean, if Ledger had cancer and accidentally overdosed on medications, would you have described it as narcissistic?
I think I should probably depart this thread as I said all I wanted to say and I don't love the idea of discussing the cause of Ledger's death.
Yes, Dan -- I know depression is real, and the difference between ordinary depression and the clinical, hence the Tom Cruise crack. That's not my point. I know several people who take an anti-depressant of some sort --took one myself for a while. They might even take a couple of 'em. But a cocktail of six (count 'em, SIX!)types of not only anti-depressants, but sleeping pills and pain killers? Are you kidding me?
Either Ledger went to one doctor who supplied all these drugs -- which I think might be considered a tad irresponsible in the medical community -- or Ledger was less than honest with the multiple healthcare providers who undoubtedly asked him what other kinds of medication he was taking before signing off on the latest anti-depressant/sleeping pill/painkiller variety. And I have to ask why. Sure, maybe he innocently "forgot" to mention the other ones. Go ahead and believe that if you want. But I didn't just fall off the turnip wagon.
As for my suspicion of narcissim, sorry, but self-absorption is a common enough trait in Hollywood, and it's not necessarily a bad thing -- in moderation. But I've run across too many deaths and arrests of actors, singers and other entertainers in which incredible amounts of serious prescription drugs are found in close proximity. Well hey -- my life is hard too; I'm under pressure, too; I've had bad breaks, too. But I can't get six different types of anti-depressants/sleeping pills/painkillers, and I'll bet you can't either. Then again, maybe we can, since there has been an explosion in the use of anti-depressant drugs over the last few years. You want to believe it's the result of a sudden epidemic of chemical imbalances in the human brain, go right ahead, but again, I didn't just fall off the turnip wagon. People are overprescribing. But hey -- if denial works for ya, it's OK with me.
And Dan, just in case you do return to the thread, your analogy with the cancer victim is BS. Anyone so sick with cancer they needed the equivalent -- in cancer medication -- of what Ledger was apparently taking would mostly likely be in a hospital under 24-hour care.
Finally -- Britney Spears. Since you take everything so friggin' literally, I will answer your question about Britney just as literally. I don't know if she's that sick. Maybe we should give her Ledger's drug regimen and find out. Geez.
There are people even today who insist that James Dean's death was a tragic, unavoidable accident, or that it was caused by the other driver. Maybe so. But that doesn't stop the fact that he was driving a little too fast for the road conditions and wasn't wearing his very thick glasses.
And finally, Dan -- you may not agree when I say that overprescribing prescription drugs is a problem, but at the very least, when I do, stop making it sound like I'm insulting your mother.
When even Alastair Campbell comes on the telly and says the media are going to far, you know it's beyond a joke. (For the benefit of non-Brits, Campbell was Tony Blair's spin doctor and enforcer. He could ride the press like Roy Rogers could ride a horse.) Maybe that's what Britney needs. Somebody who can keep her out of the press. Tom Cruise had Pat Kingsley in his corner for years and she managed to hide the fact that he was bats*** crazy, by threatening to withdraw interviews, or reduce access to her other clients. Somebody needs to get this wee girl out of the limelight for a while.
For example, there are several types of Oxycodone; one is more commonly known as OxyContin, the others are much weaker and often used to treat moderate pain. Did he have Oxycontin or one of the milder variations? We don't know. How much of these drugs was in his system? Again, we don't know. The absence of that data throws much of Faraci's article out the window.
Ledger's costars on his last film had mentioned that he'd injured his back pretty severely so prescribing oxycodone is not unusual, especially given the long and grueling schedule actors sometimes follow. Hydrocodone is a fairly common drug used to treat cold and flu symptons. Again, Ledger's costars on his last film verified that he had a nasty case of the flu so it's not shocking that he'd be on this. I could go on but I think I've made my point. To hear Faraci say it, these and the rest of the medications were so deadly that just talking about them might kill you and that isn't true.
Faraci himself admits he's not a doctor and suggests that Ledger could have been in intense physical pain; he just "doubts it". Why? Because it's more fun to think Ledger was a abuser? The way I read it, he's just as guilty of "profiling" these celebrities as the people he condemns.
Faraci also says "I'd rather be on cocaine than Prozac any single day of the week." That's a very stupid and uninformed comment. Depression is often due to a Serotonin disorder and Prozac is a necessary medication for that.
Also, "smart recreational drug use" is an oxymoron. Any adult who advocates recreational drug use is an imbecile and should be barred from speaking in public.
Did Ledger abuse these drugs? Definitely. Could it have been accidental? Possibly. Will we ever know what really happened? Of course not.
Bottom line for me is that neither I nor Faraci nor anybody else know all the facts of the case; and to jump to conclusions and condemn the memory of a dead man based only on innuendo, partial information, and his standing in the media relative to other celebs is wrong and insensitive.
Oh, please. 8-) It has nothing to do with denial. I have no idea whether Ledger was suffering from depression, and neither do anyone else on this site. You can act as intellectually superior as you want, but at the end of the day, you will never know what suffering Ledger may (or may not) have gone through.
Plus, I wonder whether you truly comprehend what depression is? I'm not saying Ledger had it, but if he had, it's more than simply bad breaks and being under a bit of pressure. You know, this whole discussion of his death is nothing more than speculation, just like the article written by Faraci who also wouldn't know anything about Ledger's personal life, and I really wonder what the value of such speculation is.
The reason I brought up cancer was to contrast depression with a common physical disease. Obviously, if Ledger had cancer, his medical situation would have been different, but my point was that depression (if indeed Ledger was suffering from it) is a disease just like cancer. The only difference is that society sadly doesn't take depression as seriously as cancer.
Language HH, language, this is a family site. :v
But what does it prove though? We can argue that Ledger or his doctors had a direct or indirect hand in his death, but we still don't know the circumstances that led to his taking these drugs in the first place.
Actualy, I very much agree it is a massive problem.
Well, it is very personal with me. I have several close family members who have suffered from depression as well as several friends, and although I myself have never suffered from clinical depression, there was a time whe I was pretty close to it.
I admitt that I was a little forceful but let it be known that you give as good as you get.
And you certainly do that, Mr. Same. Carry on :007)
I will now turn my attention to the more serious business of evaluating the Quantum of Solace teaser poster.
Good grief! It seems the reason for the pap-rats knowing where Britney is all the time is because they are tipped off in advance by her, or on her behalf.
Germaine Greer asks pretty much the same question, but points the blame firmly at the GP's and the demands put upon Ledger by the industry. Also she describes the Australian press as being 'unspeakable.' I thought the UK press were the worst going. What's up with that Dan Same? Surely they can't be worse than our lot?
http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2255650,00.html
Oh no, our press are much nicer...maybe not nice, but nicer. After Steve Irwin died, she said nasty sorts of things about him. The press attacked her back. Her idea of them being monsters is that they attack her personally - hence everyone hates them.
I dont think people in Australia take much notice of her
Cheers Taity. I knew she'd had run-in's with them before, but I didn't know if this was referring to other things as well.
Incidentally, some lovely person has put Candy, one of Ledger's best films on Youtube.
Link below. Warning, it is about drug-addiction and contains content that is at times distressing. It is worth watching though. Ledger and Abbie Cornish (Australians really do make the best women
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FQr4J_IOFYg&feature=related