Heath Ledger: Dead
For once, I don't even know what to say. He was a great actor, one whom I liked immensely, and this is just a waste of a talent and a waste of a life.
UPDATE: Looking more and more like it might have been an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. We'll see, I guess; not sure if that makes it better or worse.
NOTE: Thanks to everyone for the emails, texts, and phone calls alerting me to this.
posted by Clinton at 5:28 PM
10 Comments:
such a sad loss...i feel so sorry for his family
Accidental overdose of sleeping pills? I gotta call bullshit on that one.
I just have to say as a healthcare professional that dying from an accidental overdose on sleeping pills is entirely plausible.
Situation: You can't sleep, but you desperately want to. Take two sleeping pills, doesn't work. Take 2 more, still doesn't work. Get really desperate, take 4 more. Ah, sleep.
Except because you took so fucking many, you sleep hard. And if you're lying face down, you're no longer protecting your airway. You stop breathing, but you're sleeping too hard to wake up slightly and turn your head. And then you die.
Now, you could be right, and that might not have happened at all in this case. I'm just sayin, that does happen sometimes. And because I liked the guy, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Speaking as someone who's had their fair share of sleeping issues, I can attest to the fact that an overdose is not out of the question... I'm poor enough to where I've never been able to afford Ambien or anything like that, but I have taken too many Tylenol PMs in my life.
Clinton, you're not going to die from taking a few too many Tylenol PMs. Hell the Tylenol would damage your liver before the Benadryl would cause any serious damage.
Krista: Which sleep-aid medication is indicated for more then one pill a night use? If you make the decision to take medication other then how the doctor indicates, that's not an accident. Sure, he might've died from overdosing, but it wasn't an accident.
you could totally die from taking one single Tylenol PM. If you took it right after eating a bacon-wrapped cheese-stuffed deep-fried hot dog and, dozing peacefully, didn't feel all of your arteries exploding in time.
I, of course, have zero medical experience in my background (unless you count being a big fan of ER when it was first on), but... I don't know... it almost seems to me like you're looking at is as too black & white. I'm not saying he *didn't* kill himself... there's ample evidence to suggest that he did. But I'm also saying that the possibility of an accidental overdose is plausable, if not likely. In other words, I can see how it would happen. Especially given what I know about the effects of sleeping pills, particularly on those with hardcore insomnia... if you've already taken a few and are woozy-yet-not-sleeping from them, I can see how taking a couple of more can seem like a good idea without it actually being a suicide attempt.
This is of course just theoretical wheel-spinning. We'll probably never know what actually happened.
C: You are correct on all points sir. And that's true, I am often guilty of seeing things only in black and white, especially in situations like this where I'm going strictly on speculation.
Hey, you only see things in black & white, I kill prostitutes in an unmarked van behind a warehouse... we've all got issues, man. It's the little flaws that makes this world a beautiful rainbow-colored melting pot full of love.
Todd, you are indeed right, there are no sleeping pills currently prescribed that you should take more than 1-2 of per night.
I was going to say that being stupid and not following the directions could still be an 'accidental' overdose because the person is attempting to sleep, and not attempting to kill himself. But uh, you and clinton just basically said that, so now I sound really repetitive. I'll stop now.
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