Ledger's Death Ruled "Acute Intoxication"

106. sounds like ELvis to me, no difference except for their ages.

Posted at 2:30PM on Feb 6th 2008 by trycia

107. OF COURSE IT WAS DRUGS!!!! DID ANYONE REALLY THINK OTHERWISE????
COME ON PEOPLE- THAT'S PART OF BEING FAMOUS. ASK NIKKI SIXX. YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT,WHEN YOU WANT IT.
BTW I'M PROUD OF NIKKI FOR WHAT HE'S DONE!

Posted at 2:49PM on Feb 6th 2008 by miss.boo

108. How can they call this accidental? That is a lot of medication to take at once. Very sad!! I pray for his family, & his daughter.

Posted at 2:51PM on Feb 6th 2008 by Anner

109. An accidental overdose of abused drugs...what do people out there think, people with pharmacology background that is? It's very puzzling.There was no prescription for oxycodone (or percocet) and it's a "popular" street drug right now (basically prescription heroin) to snot/shot-up/ingest - snorting bringing the quickest high without having to shoot-up. So, the question is why would anyone feel compelled to also ingest so many other opiates? (e.g. vicodin - ok, theoretically could have been prescribed for a cough; but also valium, xanax, and restoril? It seems illogical and sort of overkill, in terms of achieving (a) a big downer high, which theoretically oxycodone could do on its own; (b) sleep? Doesn't make sense to take so many opiates/sleeping agents towards that end, unless he was really speeding-out, and one would think that would be medically evident. Would are the possible explanations - based in logic please? This wouldn't be necessary if the ME had released amounts, as well as other info, for example, was there evidence of oxycodone inhalation? That would meet the criteria for "abused prescribed drugs". It just doesn't make sense.

Posted at 3:19PM on Feb 6th 2008 by your mom

110. Your mom - you need to educate yourself on some of these medications before you yourself overdose by your lack of knowledge.

Heath's toxicology showed oxycodone and hydrocodone at low levels of toxicity because they were not taken as pills (explained by the fact that neither of these were listed by the police as prescriptions they removed from the apartment). It's safe to assume the levels were so low because they were merely COMPONENTS of over-the-counter UNPRESCRIBED medications such as his cough medicine (ROBITUSSIN, which was removed from the apartment and contains hydrocodone) and oxycodone, which is also known as PERCOCET. Neither of these are potent or strong medications at these levels. The oxycodone was probably equivalent to taking an aspirin. DO NOT MISTAKE HEATH'S OXYCODONE for OXYCONTIN. They are not the same thing. Go look up the difference between the two and you will see what I mean.

Posted at 3:49PM on Feb 6th 2008 by Kelly

111. Hydrocodone is found in some prescription cough syrups. Common names for hydrocodone and oxycodone in pill form (painkillers) are Oxycontin, Percoset, Percodan, Lortab...They are usually only legitimately prescribed when a patient is expected to experience a significant amount of pain for a lengthy period of time or after mouth surgery, etc. (extractions, root canals, etc. and then most dentists prescribe them in very small quantities with no refills). Doctors don't prescribe them for small aches and pains associated with pneumonia or the flu. They are popular street "pharmaceuticals". There's been no shortage of celebrities and ordinary people who've become addicted to them, as they take more and more as their tolerance builds. Rush Limbaugh is one person who's been famously addicted. How much have prescription pharmaceuticals obtained from Canada without a prescription been restricted by our government?

Prescriptions/bottles for hydrocodone and oxycodone weren't found in his apartment, so it makes you wonder where he got them and why there was no evidence of them. If the hydrocodone were part of a prescription cough syrup rather than merely a painkiller in pill form as I mentioned above, the cough syrup would have been found in his apartment and there's no indication that any was found. He either took hydrocodone and oxycodone recreationally the night before and they were still in his system, or the bottles were removed from the apartment before authorities arrived, perhaps because the prescriptions were made out to someone else and they were in Heath's possession. (It is illegal to possess prescription drugs when you don't have a prescription for them in your name.) Either the maid or the masseuse could have put them in their pocket, then handed them to MKO's security personnel outside the presence of the EMT's. There was plenty of time to do so, since security was not allowed inside the bedroom. No one would have been the wiser.

Posted at 4:20PM on Feb 6th 2008 by MH

112. TEMAZAPINE has been Upgraded here in Australia and the USA and is considered the most dangerous Benzodiazepine.People were losing Fingers by injecting the Jell into their veins.XANAX and Valium and SSRI >I have been on myself with no side effect.
My view is that HEATH due to his hopping all over the world made the mistake of NOT going to the ONE doctor who could REIGN in and advise him only to take a few of the Medicines.
I always was started on Kids doseages and upped slowly to build a tollerance and stopped medication when the condition improved.
Poor Man,RIP Heath.

Posted at 5:19PM on Feb 6th 2008 by turbo

113. AFTER SEEING THE TAPE OF HIM DOING DRUGS IN THE HOTEL, & SAYING THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE THERE, & THATS WHY HIM & MICHELLE BROKE UP, HEATH THEN HAD A DEATH WISH!!!!! YES PEOPLE, DRUGS DO KILL!!!!!!

Posted at 6:05PM on Feb 6th 2008 by NY$MafiaMaMa=55

114. Elvis got his scripts from multiple doctors across the country. And he knew what he was doing--getting scripts from one doctor who didn't know what the other doc was prescribing.

These stars who abuse drugs knew what happened to Anna Nicole Smith and other stars who took multiple "legal" drugs, enough to kill them.

It is hard to conjure up sympathy for them when they do stupid things.

Posted at 8:41PM on Feb 6th 2008 by Lilarose

115. I really think he was gay.(Or bisexual) Only he,Jake and God knows the truth.Why would it be that he stated to take Alot of drugs after Brokeback Mountain? He knows that he really couldnt stay with Michelle because he had a sexual part of him aroused because of the Movie.

Posted at 1:00AM on Feb 8th 2008 by galatica

116. i am a registered nurse and it is not uncommun that md will prescribe a lot of meds, and the public is suppose to
know all the interactions, well no.......and a yougn beautifull human being died.
it is a shame , but not on the one who is an innocent victim.

my toughts are with you man
rest in peace and i will pray for the familly
stef

Posted at 7:06PM on Feb 10th 2008 by stephan plooul

117. You're a registered nurse #111??? That is funny because I found at least 5 different spelling errors as well as capitalization & punctuation mistakes!!! Time to go back to SKOOL huh???

Posted at 1:04AM on Feb 7th 2008 by SpAzZzZz

118. wow it's funny that people label him as a drug addict so quickly how many people have told your friends that you weren't feeling good and they say hey I have something that helped me maybe it will help you with your headache that can kill you especially if your taking something else already it's easily done when they say I just had surgery and the doc gave me so and so for pain or who knows when your desperate for sleep you'll do anything it can drive you insane so you try different methods and those meds take a long time to leave your system you could take a prescirption drug one day and if you use a different one the next day that can kill you what killed him was simply taking all at once and people he did have two doctors one in the uk and one in the US prescribing two much medication is easily done especially because he was a celebrity there is privacy and if he didn't want to tell them the medicine that was previously prescribed was because he was very private and we all build up medicatiion in our medicine cabinets I'm sorry but I just don't think he was a drug addict I think it was bad judgement that could have been caused by lack of sleep he just doesn't have the traits of an addict I know addicts and trust me most them could give a rats ass about their work and family, and they not very articulate he was the opposite and I'm giving him the benefit of a doubt because people die from the exact same thing everyday celebrity or not

Posted at 11:19PM on Feb 7th 2008 by jj

119. J, I'd like to know how you know that he was not in severe pain. Just because we haven't heard that he was does not mean he wasn't. You cannot prove a negative by ANY logic. I don't KNOW he wasn't in pain AND NEITHER DO YOU!

Posted at 8:53PM on Feb 7th 2008 by Bipolarsufferer

120. The real problem here people is that there are too many "QUACK" doctors over-prescribing medications to people . These so called "pain management clinics" are nothing more than LEGALIZED DRUG DEALERS!!!! Our Government and State agencies should do more to shut these places down. Many people are allowed to go to multiple doctors to get these medications with no questions asked. Not only do they get a fee for the doctor's visit, most of them have their own pharmacies in their offices which they make the patients use so that they may profit from that as well! I lost my Uncle a year ago because he was going to multiple doctors and being over-prescribed (of course then came the addiction to the meds) and he died of an accidental overdose. Of course nobody forced him to take the meds, but the doctors are partly responsible for over-prescribing the meds. It's all about the money in their pockets, they don't care that they are killing people everyday!

Posted at 9:04AM on Feb 8th 2008 by texan1950