They just said in the nes that heath ledger death was an accidental overdose.

Here is my problem: When a generally depressed person uses drugs, how can the doctor tell, if he/she wanted to kill him/herself or it was just an accident???

I guess one clue could be the amount. If he took 3 pills instead of 1, that is an accident, if he took 20, that is a suicede...

maybe if there are markings that it slipped or so on the skin...or statistics of that person show that they never did that before and kept a constant dosage.

.... I guess one clue could be the amount. If he took 3 pills instead of 1, that is an accident, if he took 20, that is a suicide...

I wondered that as well. But I guess that explains it to me. thanks :)

Well, I think they are just trying to protect his image:

"The New York City medical examiner's office has ruled that actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

A spokewoman for the medical examiner said the drugs included painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication."

Now they could say, that a certain combination (not known to the user) can cause a deadly mix, but again, I would like to know the amount he took.

Heath Ledger...isn't that the mountain gay dude? so added to the fact that they spread std's, gays also take drugs...marvelous...jus marvelous...

Well, I think they are just trying to protect his image:

"The New York City medical examiner's office has ruled that actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

A spokewoman for the medical examiner said the drugs included painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication."

Now they could say, that a certain combination (not known to the user) can cause a deadly mix, but again, I would like to know the amount he took.

You never know. I have been taking some medication for my sore back and neck, the last month. Yesterday my doctor took me off it right away. Apparently my blood pressure was through the roof. I never had an issue with it before. I wouldn't have known except I had an appt and have been having severe pressure like headaches. She also said the combination of the 2 things I was taking was not good. This happened because I couldn't get in to see her and had 2 different DR. prescribing things. She said luckily I came in to see her because this could have been quite serious if I continued.

Heath Ledger...isn't that the mountain gay dude? so added to the fact that they spread std's, gays also take drugs...marvelous...jus marvelous...

Brokeback Mountain you mean.....lol

He isn't gay though....he was only acting, so I doubt he was spreading STD's lol

The report says he had 6 different drugs in him, including Oxycodone and Hydrocodone.

I would say anybody who has worked in Hollywood for years should be aware of the danger of mixing more than 3 drugs, hell even 2. Since he was pretty depressed and even mentioned in an interview that he would be OK to die since he now has a daughter, so somebody is living behind him, I vote for suicede...

Draqon, you are a moron...Actors act....

Edit: The reporter just asked the same question, and the answer is, sometimes we just don't know....

The report say he had 6 different drugs in him, including Oxycodone and Hydrocodone.

I would say anybody who has worked in Hollywood for years should be aware of the danger of mixing more than 3 drugs, hell even 2. Since he was pretty depressed and even mentioned in an interview that he would be OK to die since he now has a daughter, so somebody is living behind him, I vote for suicede...

Draqon, you are a moron...Actors act....

Well all I can say is, I wouldn't want the pressures of Hollywood. I can understand why many run to drugs.

I just remembered something: insurance!

Actors usually have a very high insurance by the studios (and I assume by themselves too) because of the danger of getting injured while making a multimillion dollar film. If it is an overdose, his daughter gets his lifeinsurance, if it is a suicede, she doesn't...

Just something to ponder about...

My husband always takes more meds than it says. He expects meds to work w/in 5 minutes of him taking them, and when it doesn't, he takes more. Then the more he takes, the bigger tolerance he builds up. We go around and around about it.

sad, but I could see this happening to him.

You never know. I have been taking some medication for my sore back and neck, the last month. Yesterday my doctor took me off it right away. Apparently my blood pressure was through the roof. I never had an issue with it before. I wouldn't have known except I had an appt and have been having severe pressure like headaches. She also said the combination of the 2 things I was taking was not good. This happened because I couldn't get in to see her and had 2 different DR. prescribing things. She said luckily I came in to see her because this could have been quite serious if I continued.

Before prescribing. don't your doctors have a record of all your medication on a PC screen which they can consult ?

Before prescribing. don't your doctors have a record of all your medication on a PC screen which they can consult ?

I went to the Emergency room one time, and a walk in clinic the second.
They just ask you what you are talking. I am not on any regular prescriptions. I have just been prescribed some things for my back recently.
Beleive me my REAL doctor wasn't very impressed. I was poked and proded yesterday. On friday I will have a better idea WTF is wrong with me :(

I went to the Emergency room one time, and a walk in clinic the second.
They just ask you what you are talking. I am not on any regular prescriptions. I have just been prescribed some things for my back recently.
Beleive me my REAL doctor wasn't very impressed. I was poked and proded yesterday. On friday I will have a better idea WTF is wrong with me :(

Your system seems to be different from ours. I see a doctor who is a partner in a practice. In his absence I see one of his colleagues. The important thing is that there is no lack of continuity because my complete medical history is available on their computer. Each doctor has a PC on his desk.
Is your healthcare system similar to that in the US ? I have been in Canada on a work-related assignment but the question never came up


I hope you have a happy outcome.

They just said in the nes that heath ledger death was an accidental overdose.

You just don't take that many pills without knowing what your doing to yourself. The amount of pills that he took would have been quite a few I'd think and he knew how many he took after the first 3 or 4 I'm sure. He comitted suicide but to make it look "better" they say this kind of crap. :shrug:

You just don't take that many pills without knowing what your doing to yourself. ....

hell yeah you do. The younger you are the more invincible you think you are. Look back at how you were at that age.

hell yeah you do. The younger you are the more invincible you think you are. Look back at how you were at that age.

I remember but I also never took more than 3 pills of ANY type at any one time whatever they were.

I remember but I also never took more than 3 pills of ANY type at any one time whatever they were.

Would that have anything to do with the Holy Trinity ?

I hope you have a happy outcome.

Thanks, I am kinda stressing about it.

I was poked and proded yesterday. (

:):):)

Here is my problem: When a generally depressed person uses drugs, how can the doctor tell, if he/she wanted to kill him/herself or it was just an accident?Professional investigators always lean toward ruling that a death is accidental rather than suicide. Reason: life insurance. Policies don't pay if you kill yourself. So your wife not only loses you, and your income, but she also loses your $250,000 life insurance policy.

Both Volvo and Daimler-Benz send a forensic team to investigate every fatal accident involving one of their cars, in each of their own countries. They discovered that the vast majority of single-car fatal accidents are suicides. Of course they don't share the information from their investigations with the cops or the insurance companies. All they care about is making their cars safer and they don't want people to stop cooperating with them.

Thanks, I am kinda stressing about it.

Well. I'll send you some good vibes. As someone said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I've been there.

Reason: life insurance.

I already made this point like 10 posts ago. Welcome to the party!

Both Volvo and Daimler-Benz send a forensic team to investigate every fatal accident involving one of their cars, in each of their own countries.

I really don't see the point. Unless they publish it, that it wasn't the car's fault to travel into a brickwall by 100mph, the accident will be
included in the stats and screwing the result.

This is comical. What was this fellow an idiot? six prescription dugs and it's 'an accident'?

I'm over 50 and have had one prescription drug as an adult and it was an antibiotic to clear up an ear infection.

PLEAEEEEEEASE....this idiot was a dope head.

Parents tell their 12 year olds to say no to drugs but the same parents excuse away this idiot's behavior as 'an accident'. Baloney.

I honestly don't care that much. It was a surprise to hear he was dead, and a shame at his age. But as far as what his problems were or lifestyle I don't really follow that stuff too much. I don't understand how everyday ppl can get so wrapped up or take it so personally when something happens with these movie stars. Some ppl act like they knew them personally or something.

Nevertheless you keep posting about it... :)

Nevertheless you keep posting about it... :)

HAHA I mean I listen to stuff if I happen to hear it on TV. I will read the covers of magazines while standing in line at the grocery store. But I mean ppl who FOLLOW the lives of the Celebrities and know everything about what they have done or what they are doing. Buying all the trash magazines, following everything online, that is what I mean. I am not that interested in the lives of ppl that make wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much money that I don't even know.

It is sad and surprising sometimes, but that's really as far as it goes for me.

Before prescribing. don't your doctors have a record of all your medication on a PC screen which they can consult ?

It doesn't always work though. My mother is a diabetic, has only a slight problem with her cholesterol and mild blood pressure problems. She takes medications for all three problems to keep them in check. She is also somewhat of an insomniac. Her doctor prescribed her a mild sleeping tablet to take if she has a lot of trouble going to sleep. She does not take it often, but if she finds herself staying awake for more than two days, she will take one with dinner so that it helps her get to sleep. She has never had any problems with the combination of medications her doctor prescribed her.

About a month ago, her sister suffered a massive heart attack. She flew down immediately with my father and literally arrived there a day before her sister passed away. After 3 days, the stress and grief over the loss of her closest sister, my mother had simply not slept. She was not eating because of it. I mean lets face it, she was devastated. One day her sister was fine, speaking to her on the phone and the next day she is placed on life-support and her heart dying. It was a huge shock. So after 3 or so days of no sleep (she was interstate staying with her sister's son, doing the plans for the funeral, etc), she decided to take half of her sleeping pill with dinner. Within 30 minutes my mother passed out at the dinner table, and was rushed to hospital. It seems that the safe sleeping tablet she had been prescribed was no longer safe, because the sheer amount of stress she was under and the fact she was not eating properly caused a bad reaction. Had she been alone, she could very well have died. Her blood pressure had dropped and so had her blood sugar. That half of a sleeping pill she took became almost an overdose for her. Had she taken a whole tablet, as she was prescribed, she could very well have died herself.:bawl: In short, there are other factors that can negatively affect one's reaction to prescribed medication.

I understand that Ledger had been taking the same cocktail of drugs in the past, with no disastrous affects. As it stands, his death has been ruled accidental. Those who knew him best are adamant that he would never have killed himself. I am sure they and the medical examiners know more than the rest of us do.

does anyone have a link to the coronors report or the drugs he was on?

I cant rember the exact mix but there was something fishy with the mix when they read it out on the radio this morning

One problem i DID take notice of was the fact that he was taking
diazapram and tamazapram at the same time. This is just stupid as they are related drugs. The other thing is he was taking narcotics with seditives, this is another no no. The narcotics supress the brains resperation responce, and the seditives make you sleepy so you dont KNOW that your not geting the O2 you need. Also can lead to aspreation which is VERY bad

This is what comes of doctor shopping at the very least

I thought it wasn't so much about how much he took, but the combination of what he took.
The bottles say take 2 pills, which he did. Unfortunately he took 2 pills of 6 different items. The combination is what killed him.

its not unfortunate. he chose his own death, be it.

Here are the 6:

Oxycodone (OxyContin): prescription painkiller, potentially addictive, lethal in overdose, especially in combination with Xanax and Valium.

Hydrocodone (Vicodin): prescription painkiller, potentially addictive, lethal in overdose, especially in combination with Xanax and Valium.

Diazepam (Valium): prescription anti-anxiety drug, potentially addictive, less likely to be lethal in overdose than painkillers, except when taken in combination with alcohol and other drugs that depress the nervous system.

Alprazolam (Xanax): prescription anti-anxiety drug, potentially addictive, less likely to be lethal in overdose than painkillers, except when taken in combination with alcohol and certain drugs.

Temazepam (Restoril): prescription sleeping pill, potentially addictive, less likely to be lethal in overdose than painkillers, except when taken in combination with alcohol and certain drugs.

Doxylamine (Unisom): over-the-counter antihistamine sometimes usedfor insomnia; overdose unlikelyto be lethal.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/02/07/2008-02-07_rx_drug_cocktail_accident_killed_heath_l-1.html

"Federal agents launched a probe into Heath Ledger's death Wednesday after authorities ruled he died of a prescription drug cocktail - including an addictive painkiller called hillbilly heroin.

In all, six meds were found in the "Brokeback Mountain" actor's body, and the DEA wants to know how he got them.

"We're trying to identify if these were legitimate prescriptions that he had, or if they were illegally obtained or dispensed and by whom," a source told the Daily News. The Drug Enforcement Administration subpoenaed the city medical examiner's findings.

Sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs were seized in Ledger's SoHo loft on Jan. 22, when his lifeless body was found in a bedroom.

Wednesday's toxicology report also revealed Ledger's use of painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone, the ingredient in OxyContin, a man-made opiate so popular in rural areas that it's often called hillbilly heroin.

Three of the drugs found had been prescribed in Europe, and the others locally, sources told The News.

Doctors said it was unlikely any one physician would prescribe all six drugs at once."

Alprazolam killed him, it let his soul go to were he was destined to from the beginning. It KILLED his pain.

I already made this point [life insurance] like 10 posts ago. Welcome to the party!So you did. Sorry I missed it. Sometimes the party gets a little too big. :)I really don't see the point. Unless they publish it, that it wasn't the car's fault to travel into a brickwall by 100mph, the accident will be included in the stats and screwing the result.Yes, I'm sure they agonized over that decision. But as I said, if they publish their findings, the families of "single-car fatal accident victims" will stop cooperating with them and they'll have no data at all. I guess they figure they're better off this way. In any case it was published somewhere, in summary form, since I was able to read it about fifteen years ago. Besides, the car companies' purpose is to concentrate on the wrecks that were actually accidents and try to find out what went wrong and how they might prevent it next time. They don't need to publish their results to accomplish that; in fact publishing will thwart that goal.

I wonder how it makes a family feel? They think they lost daddy in a freak accident; that's bad enough. But then some guy with a Mercedes-Benz logo on his business card tells them it was suicide. So now they once again have faith that Mercedes are safe cars, but they also know that daddy was so depressed he committed suicide and never talked to them about it? And they don't get the life insurance???

Well, I don't think there are that many suicede commited in cars. After all, a car provides pretty decent protection even without a seatbelt. Also, I assume they don't mess with the airbag.
A motorcycle specially without helmet could be a much easier way...

I wonder about the head on collisions with a semi or a tree. An airbag can only do so much.

This guy was getting most likely getting high from his prescription drugs but he just didnt know what he was doing. When i had an infection they gave me Vicodin and it hurt like hell and the Vicodin didnt help so i took about nine of them and my heart was racing so much i had to go out and run around the block a few times because i thought i was a goner. Luckily it subsided but i dont remember getting high from the Vicodin either. I cant say i recommend that for getting buzzed but that hillbilly heroin will put you on cloud nine, he probably could have eliminated all the other stuff and went straight for that HH. Why would anyone mix drugs like that?:shrug:

... the Vicodin didnt help so i took about nine of them and my heart was racing so much i had to go out and run around the block a few times because i thought i was a goner. ...

LOL, you sound like my husband. More is always better for some reason. Then teh panic attack cuz he thinks he's he's given himself a heart attack. :D

I didnt think they were doing anything for the pain so i took more and they almost killed me.

I didnt think they were doing anything for the pain so i took more and they almost killed me.

They weren't doing anything or they weren't doing it fast enough? he only waits like 5-10 minutes before taking more. :rolleyes:

Too many people underestimate the power (and danger) of drugs.

I wonder about the head on collisions with a semi or a tree. An airbag can only do so much.

Yeah but it is like shooting yourself in the chest with a bulletproof vest. Anyway, this is offtopic...

Heath Ledger...isn't that the mountain gay dude? so added to the fact that they spread std's, gays also take drugs...marvelous...jus marvelous...


A repugnant insight into the intellect of Draqon. :(

What's not mentioned on here is that he also was having a respiratory illness at the time, possibly a slight case of pneumonia. What I heard was that all the drugs were taken at the correct dosage and were most likely not taken all at the same time. Things he took a day before would have still shown up in toxicology. The drugs he had in his system suppressed brain function so his body would not have responded properly if he was not receiving enough oxygen. He was found face down so he was already in a position that restricts breathing, was in respiratory distress, and his brain couldn't properly send the message that he needed to do something in order to breathe properly.

A repugnant insight into the intellect of Draqon. :(

:puke: agreed

It all comes down to the number of pills. If he took 1-2 each, that is an accident, if he had more than 5 any of them, I would think it was a suicede. He was quite depressed and stressed out and as I mentioned earlier, he was OK with dying, now that he had a daughter...

Strangely, the news forgot to mention the number of pills...

A repugnant insight into the intellect of Draqon. :(

I follow statistics as a general principle to decide. And statistics of gay show high mortality rate because of std's. And now this is learned...

I follow statistics as a general principle to decide. And statistics of gay show high mortality rate because of std's. And now this is learned...

Draqon, that is one thing to make a stupid post, but defending it is another.

Do you really think that Christian Bale is a serial killer, just because he played one in American Psycho? Case closed....

It all comes down to the number of pills. If he took 1-2 each, that is an accident, if he had more than 5 any of them, I would think it was a suicede.

Yes, and this would be true for a rational, healthy person. But not for someone suffering from psychological distress or physical illness.

When in great pain, emotional or physical, in some people, rationality doesn't work anymore, and they'll do anything to relieve the pain.

In Ledger's case, it might have been an accidental suicide: that is, he in effect did kill himself, but he didn't necessarily have the intention to kill himself.

But we probably won't ever know what really happened, much less what went on in his mind.
Because after all, all we do get are news reports which are filtered and more or less biased and tailored information.

Heath Ledger...isn't that the mountain gay dude? so added to the fact that they spread std's, gays also take drugs...marvelous...jus marvelous...

you are dumb. movies = not real.

Draqon, that is one thing to make a stupid post, but defending it is another.

Do you really think that Christian Bale is a serial killer, just because he played one in American Psycho? Case closed....

well if he is playing a gay dude, isn't he gay? I know I would never play a gay character.