by Shannonn Kelly
It was confirmed Wednesday February 8, 2008 that the actor Heath Ledger died accidentally “from the abuse of prescription medications” — specifically, six kinds of painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs — a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner’s office said.
Ledger was found dead in his rented SoHo district New York apartment on January 22, 2008, when a registered massage therapist tried wake him for an appointment.
Ledger had become a familiar figure in his neighborhood. He moved there after breaking up with the actress Michelle Williams, who played his wife in “Brokeback Mountain” and with whom he has a 2-year-old daughter, Matilda.
Before calling 911, registered massage therapist placed three calls to the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, who she knew was a friend of his and possibly renting the apartment to Ledger. Olsen sent over private security agents, who arrived at about the same time as emergency medical personnel.
An autopsy was performed the following day and the results were inconclusive.
The final report concludes that among the drugs found in Ledger’s system were two widely prescribed narcotics: oxycodone, the main ingredient in the prescription drug OxyContin, and hydrocodone, the principal pain reliever in the prescription drug Vicodin.
Also in Ledger’s system were three anti-anxiety medications: diazepam, the generic name for Valium; alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax; and temazepam, which is sold under the brand name Restoril and is often prescribed as a sleep medication.
The drug doxylamine was also found in his system. It is an ingredient in some over-the-counter sleeping pills, and is also marketed in some nonprescription cold medicines that contain decongestants.
The medical examiner’s spokeswoman would not say whether any one drug had contributed more than the others to his death.
“It’s the combination of the drugs that caused the problem, not necessarily too much of any particular drug,” she said in the interview. “All these drugs have a cumulative effect on the body.”
“He was taking what I think any pharmacist would recognize as a potentially lethal, likely harmful combination of agents,” she said. “They all had a risk of sedation, and by combining all these medications, the sedation was substantial enough that it was lethal.”
The U.S. government Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is investigating where the drugs came from and has issued subpoenas to the medical examiner’s office for information about Ledger’s case, according to a law enforcement official who asked not to be identified because the investigation was continuing.
As it does whenever there is a death by drug overdose, the DEA is seeking to determine whether a doctor for a medical condition legally prescribed the drugs or if any were illegally dispensed. The law enforcement official said the agency was also working with the police to obtain the original police reports about the death.
Ledger’s father, Kim, released a statement through Ledger’s publicist: “Heath’s accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage.” “We learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy,” Ledger’s father tearfully said…
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