Heath Ledger

Funny how this is seen as an "overdose," when lots of people are similiarly overmedicataed. This is not James Dean or Sid & Nancy, this is just following doctor's orders! I know a lot of people on a similar cocktail of drugs, and they just accrue naturally. A friend went to get his physical, mentioned to the doc he was feeling a little blue...so the doc put him on Zoloft. The Zoloft messed up his sleep, so the doc suggested a sleeping pill...the Zoloft also made his libido dry up so the doc suggested Viagra...the guy was having headaches so the doc said to take tons of ibuprophen...then the guy was kind of depressed and anxious about his sex life, so the doc might have prescribed Xanax...but the guy said enough was enough and stopped it all. But he sounded like a perfectly reasonable person who could have pulled a "Heath Ledger." The guy even stopped the ibuprophen because he realized it was chewing up his stomach (for which the physician could prescribe yet another medicine).

From the AP:

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs that included painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday.

Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," medical examiner's spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.

The drugs are the generic names for the OxyContin painkiller, the anti-anxiety drug Valium, Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom. Hydrocodone is another name for ibuprofen.