BREAKING: Heath Ledger Died of Acute Intoxication

agreed. say what??

He was so beautiful.

He was so beautiful.

This should come as no shock to anyone and, yes, it's a shame that a good-looking, talented, wealthy, loved guy died from an o.d. but is it more of a shame than some poor, unattractive, guy with little hope dieing of the same? No. There, I said it. Regardless, I hope Heath rests in peace.

Too true Nanc'.

Basically it means he died of an overdose. Actue intoxication is just the pretty word for it. Sadly, Heath was ill when he died and likely didn't even realize how much he'd taken. Just want to feel better. I've seen it before...sad

Jen, you are obviously a very kind-hearted person and the world needs more people like you, however, many of us have suffered through pneumonia, food-poisoning, flu, infections, kidney failure, CANCER, etc. and we didn't o.d. because those illnesses don't prevent you from knowing what meds you've taken or how many.
Heath was allegedly suffering from pneumonia. That's not a mind-debilitating illness and he could have been in the hospital OR certainly had the funds to hire a private nurse or have his p.a. stay with him.
I'm just saying that he made his choices and left a good life and many loved-ones behind and having pneumonia is no excuse and for the record, most of us would give our right nut or ovary to have HALF the opportunities and benefits that many of these celebs have and it just pisses some of us off to see them throw it all away.

Nanc', well said. Here, here. It seems that his family (maybe understandably) is trying to spin this as some kind of true accident (i.e. he was just taking the medications prescribed to him by his doctors-- he was a victim). Sadly, all that does is blow an opportunity to talk openly and honestly about a growing problem and in the process perhaps help a few people with a similar illness (and by that, I mean his addiction and substance abuse, not the alleged pneumonia) as well as prevent others from making those same terrible self-destructive (not to mention selfish) choices.

In the end, it seems clear that what could have been a catalyst for positive change (or at the very least, an increased awareness about the destructive and tragic realities of drug abuse which affect celebrities and common folk alike) will be squandered because people are hell bent on making Mr. Ledger into a tragic hero.

Gee, I guess he was taking all those pills because he was depressed about his drug problems...

You don't accidentally put that much medication in your system. He OD'd for sure, but it was not an accident.

What an idiot. He got what he deserved.

Nanc, I have KNOWN people who have done the same thing. So, thanks for saying I'm kind-hearted, by it IS possible for someone to be so exhausted and so sick they don't know HOW much they are taking. None of us really knows the circumstances, but I just can't see him killing himself. The guy hardly slept, put that with possible respiratory problems and you have a very volatile combination. Exhaustion makes people do stupid things.

God bless his family, but there's no way any reputable physician would have prescribed three different anti-anxiety drugs, AND oxycontin for a patient suffering from pneumonia! Oxy is well known to repress breathing....no way it was prescribed for pneumonia. The hydrocodone maybe yes, for cough suppression.
God rest his soul.

WHY HASN'T ANYONE FOCUSED ON THIS: there is no way on earth that a single doctor would have prescribed him so many different types of medicines at once.

Heath was either (1) seeing different doctors without the doctors knowing about each other....presumably in different cities or (2) buying all or most of this stuff off the internet (in which case it would still come to him with a bottle with his name on it but with an address in Utah or Florida most often).

I was an emt and remember lots of people dieing or overdosing on self medicated prescriptions.

This is long... sorry.

However it happened it was a huge waste. I've had friends... like Jen who have done the same thing. It's not hard to do. Unfortunately drs don't really care about giving out a bad mixture of drugs for a mixture of problems. It happens. Heath had been suffering from horrible insomnia, not just 'golly, I can't sleep tonight', but 'I haven't had a decent nights sleep for months'. Add stress, depression, pneumonia and viola... that's it. It doesn't take fifty pills of each to kill you either. If he took all of these together, even one or two more than prescribed that was enough to kill him. He was exhausted. If you've ever been in that state you'll try just about anything to get to sleep. True there are many things he should have done instead, like say, go to the hospital and make them help him. He didn't want to die he just wanted to sleep. He had been trying to keep away from pot and drinking for a long time. Some say if he had just smoked a joint he may still be here. He was alone which is another factor unfortunately. He made a huge mistake and it's frustrating to come to terms with.

People want to make him look bad, like a drug addict, like an idiot or like some dumb celebrity to make themselves feel superior. They talk out of both sides of their mouths. Well, this DOES happen to other people who are none of those things. It was a costly mistake and it's left his family and friends devastated. Beating themselves up over what they could have done and should have done to prevent it. There are tons of 'if only's going on and it's painful. We are hearing about Heath Ledger and not the guy down the street because it happens everyday to the guy down the street. People are immune to it. When it happened to Heath it was a shock.

It urks me so much when I hear that question 'Why do we care about him? He had everything and blew it. He's an asshole.'. The same people who ask that question never read the paper, never care about the people in their neighborhood and never do anything about changing society. It's always the same, 'Poor me. He had it all and I want it all and he threw it away. And why should anyone care?'. Then there's the crap about 'he was a drug addict, so who cares?'. That one is really so sweet. First of all, whether he was or not, it has nothing to do with how he died. He had taken so little of each of the meds that they had to do a tox report to get the full picture. Second of all, there are a shit load of people who are drug addicts and live on and on and on.

Grow up. Get over yourselves. There's nothing more selfish than someone whining about what other people have, then in the same breath whine about all the other people in the world that die who are ugly and losers and don't get this kind of press. 'People won't care about me this way when I die, why should I care about him?' Pure jealousy. Nothing uglier than that, nothing more dishonest. It's the way the world works. It's called commerce. This kind of story sells magazines, newspapers, ad revenue on tv, blogs and websites, etc. The press doesn't care anymore than you do. They care enough to get any info and get it out there before anyone else. Heath was a human being who had a family, friends and problems just like anyone else. He screwed up and when people screw up and die, it's terribly painful for those who do care about them.

I don't remember anyone making excuses for Anna Nicole. She just like Heath ~ a junkie.

Easy to comment in the negative when you don't know the medical reasons for the presciptions. I have chronic pain and have taken presc. for it for years, after a death I had trouble sleeping and got pills from pharmacy, they said no problem to take with my pain killer. Well, guess what? I o.d.'d later that day, BY ACCIDENT. I did everything right by asking and being concerned, but i was in PAIN and could not SLEEP, I just wanted relief. That's exactly what this poor guy was doing also. I was lucky, he was not. Nice to know there are so many perfect people with perfect health that this will never happen to, and that they spit on the people who have interactions like this by accident.

cause anna nicole was on methodone, to get over an illegal drug addiction...NOT PRESCRIPTIONS,

Get your facts straight or shut the **** up

all you nay sayers are so jealous...he was so beautiful and talented. Never be another like him again.

all you nay sayers are so jealous...all the negative comments come from jealous ugly men.
he was so beautiful and talented. Never be another like him again.

all you nay sayers are so jealous...all the negative comments come from jealous ugly men.
he was so beautiful and talented. Never be another like him again.

Lee ~ a drug is a drug is a drug ~ they were junkeis. You get your facts straight!

It's like saying, I'm not an alcholic, I only drink beer!

ok i'm a medic in the army currently deployed to iraq. why is it that when a movie star dies ,because of something that he did stupid, society makes such a big deal about it? yet soldiers die over here everyday simply because we want to help another society, and get no personal gain, self-lessly giving our lives for people we don't even know, so that they can have a better life. yet when we are killed it's a statistic that only gets a passing glance on the news if anything? next time you hear of another soldier killed in iraq, think of that persons mom, dad, brothers, sister, children, and remember that we do it here in iraq so you won't have to worry about on the way to get groceries or to protest this war.

so, anyone with a prescription is a junkie?

seriously, do some research, you embarass yourself. Acute intoxication is a one time dose that is too much, not chronic abuse. Significant difference between acute and chronic. but, I'm sure someone who calls themselves pickles knows better than a professional such as myself.

"Nanc' said:
Jen, you are obviously a very kind-hearted person and the world needs more people like you, however, many of us have suffered through pneumonia, food-poisoning, flu, infections, kidney failure, CANCER, etc. and we didn't o.d. because those illnesses don't prevent you from knowing what meds you've taken or how many.
Heath was allegedly suffering from pneumonia. That's not a mind-debilitating illness and he could have been in the hospital OR certainly had the funds to hire a private nurse or have his p.a. stay with him.
I'm just saying that he made his choices and left a good life and many loved-ones behind and having pneumonia is no excuse and for the record, most of us would give our right nut or ovary to have HALF the opportunities and benefits that many of these celebs have and it just pisses some of us off to see them throw it all away.

Posted on February 6, 2008 11:54 AM"

---- Obviously you havent face any death experience of your own family yet. so STFU.

How come no one is blaming the doctors? A doctor or many doctors were prescribing these drugs to him and specifically told him to become addicted to the drugs because he would be better off and he could get off the drugs easily in the future.

Ok so obviously none of us know what was really going on in his head, right?? I'm not saying that he didn't know what he was doing because I'm not him and I can't know, however, when you're really sick and you don't feel well, you're probably not in the right state of mind. Again not saying he's blame free, but that doesn't mean he fully thought it all through. I have no clue what goes on in people's minds when they feel that way, but in a lot of cases it just seems like they didn't think about it the right way, so it's possible that his illness clogged his brain so maybe he couldn't get to that place where you know that things will turn out alright. Either way, it was really sad, and he'll be missed. It doesn't make sense, though, for people to get all pissed about it. It happened, not much we can do about it now.