The untimely death of actor Heath Ledger has been ruled accidental by the New York City medical examiner, according to the Associated Press.
Hollywood was shocked when Ledger was found dead surrounded by pills in his SoHo apartment on January 22. The affable actor was not known to be a member of the hard-partying celebrity crowd, and early reports hinted that Ledger may have committed suicide.
Today, officials in New York said the cause of death stemmed from the combined effects of OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, Restoril, Hydrocodone, and Unisom. The drugs are prescribed as painkillers, sleeping aids, and anxiety suppressants.
Ledger's father released the following statement: "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."
The 28-year-old actor will star as The Joker in this summer's Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Ledger was nominated for an Academy Award for his breakout role in 2005's Brokeback Mountain, and got his start in Hollywood on the 1997 television show Roar.
We will miss you and You will not be forgotten.and i will always remaber you as akight.
it may not be that he took all the meds at once. some like oxy and vallium have long 1/2 lives and stay in the body for a very long time...benzodiazipines can show up as long as a month after injestion in lab work. similar to marajuana. the report is not specific enough to know what really happened. and it is really not our buisness. i enjoyed his movies and talent and want to know. but,that does'nt mean i have a right to know;unless it was a dr's fault,foul play,suicide. it is unusual to have two benzo's prescribed together,but again it could have been that they were taken after he asked his doc for a change...we could speculate forever.
This is total BS! How can you call this a accident? OxyContin, Vicodin(Painkillers), Valium, Xanax,(Anti-Anxiety) Resotil, and, Unisom, (Sleeping pills)that's THREE medical conditions and he's taking Two different drugs for it? Is he that stupid? or this wasn't an accident. I think all the pity should stop, let's just see him as we should. A junkie.
While I agree this is a sad situation, how could he not have known? And where does it say one doctor prescribed all these meds - was it more than one doctor? The article says he was found surrounded by pills - what message is that sending. If not suicide, something very close.
This is so sad. He was so young, talented, and loved. May You Rest In Peace. You will not be forgotten.
so sad and so young....rip
RIP Heath, you will be missed!
:cry:
It's just all so sad, no matter HOW he died. It was obvious his insomnia did a lot to provoke his medication use. RIP dear Heath...healing to your family. My fave Heath movie? The Four Feathers, it's just awesome. If you haven't seen it, rent it!
the docter should be held responible for giving him all of those drugs
I knew it was not a suicide, I knew it!!! He loved his daughter and familiy he would never do that to her intentionally.RIP Heath Ledger
Oh.. Heath was good actor. why did he do it?
at least they have one answer, but a lot of 'maybes' need to be answered
Definatly Sad, he had to go when things were going to get good for him, just sad.
Wow... It's really sad to know that a Dr. had prescribed all of those drugs to Heath. This makes the story all the more sad.
Regarding what Fake_Genius said, I think Heath may well have known it was dangerous to mix all of these medications, but he might have been addicted to them or he might have been feeling self-destructive. Maybe it wasn't an outright suicide, but he could have still have been harming himself on purpose or self-medicating for mental health issues. I didn't know him, of course. I'm just speculating. This is very sad.
So sad to see him go so young ... RIP (hopefully!)
That's good to know. At least it wasn't deliberate.
a really unfortunate fate, may he rest in peace...
What kind of Dr. would prescribe all those medicines at the same time? Oxycontin - highly addictive pain killer given to cancer patients, known as hillbilly heroin
Hydrocodone - pain killer, AKA Vicodin
Valium - used to treat anxiety
Xanax - used to treat anxiety
Restoril - possesses strong sedative, amnestic and motor impairing properties, used to treat sleeplessness
Unisom - over the counter sleep medication
All of these drugs except Unisom are used recreationally and ilegally. Taking them all at once is literally ***ed.
Why don't they just call it suicide? That's obviously what it was..only a complete moron would mix all those medications together and expect to be OK.
Well now it's all settled. RIP H.L.!
I don't understand how how somebody could really think that taking OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, Restoril, Hydrocodone, and Unisom at the same time is of no danger to his health
Maybe now that this report has come out all the stupid tabloid papers will stop saying his death was do to illegal drug use and or death caused by cocane overdose and stop trying to give him a bad rep.
R.I.P. Heath.