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Did prescription drugs abuse lead to Brittany Murphy’s death?
The coroner’s report is far from complete, but pathologist Cyril Wecht is certain actress Brittany Murphy died the way of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and so many other stars - prescription drug misuse.
Wecht appeared on CBS’ “Early Show” Tuesday, Dec. 22. He said young starlets just don’t drop dead.
“When you have a 32-year-old person dying suddenly, and especially a celebrity in Los Angeles, you can place your bet down that it’s going prove to be a case of acute combined drug toxicity,” he said, later adding that some of the drugs found in Murphy’s home have been linked to other celebrity deaths.
Wecht predicted that it will be learned that prescriptions where written for Murphy in fictitious names as well as in the name of her family members.
An autopsy had been conducted on Murphy and officials were awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue testing before determining a final cause of death.
Early indications are that Murphy died of natural causes related to her heart.
I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘natural causes.’
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Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Star dies
Comments
By Name
December 22, 2009 1:04 PM | Link to this
Doctors sometimes prescribe drugs in dangerous combinations. Bad mixes can cause respiratory symptoms that mimick the flu (or even result in death). If they give the wrong Rx drugs to an unsuspecting individual (sometimes the patient IS innocent) that doctor is the abuser and the patient is being abused. We’ll wait and see what happened here. Always tell your doctor what medicines you are taking. He is “supposed” to be aware of dangerous combinations!
By MARK TWAIN
December 22, 2009 1:14 PM | Link to this
SAD SAD SAD !!!!!! WHAT A LOVELY WOMEN !!! WANTED TO START A FAMILY NEXT YEAR,LIFE’S MOST PRECIOUS GIFT ,DEAD @ 32 .
By MARK TWAIN
December 22, 2009 1:15 PM | Link to this
SAD SAD SAD !!!!!! WHAT A LOVELY WOMEN !!! WANTED TO START A FAMILY NEXT YEAR,LIFE’S MOST PRECIOUS GIFT ,DEAD @ 32 .
By HowNatural
December 22, 2009 1:17 PM | Link to this
“Natural Causes”…’natural’ used to mean ‘idiot’. Maybe some ‘natural’ doctor prescribed her bad medicine like happens to too many celebs!
By Bad Medicine
December 22, 2009 1:45 PM | Link to this
I had doctors prescribe drugs that didn’t go together before and ended up thinking I had pneumonia in an ER and not one doctor came forward to help point out the mistaken prescription combinations even when I filed a complaint after finding out! They hide their own friggin’ mistakes!
By GiddieUp
December 22, 2009 1:49 PM | Link to this
hey, that’s how it works. doctors sometimes earn promotions from ‘recognizing’ another doctor’s mistake if they keep their mouth shut!
By disgusted
December 22, 2009 1:54 PM | Link to this
It is a shame everyone ASSUMES that this is drug abuse…. wait for the REPORTS. This “pathologist” was not even present at the autopsy… he is just looking for his name in the paper. If she had the flu or a stomach virus, and she was a diabetic (as mom said), she could easily have gotten into trouble with her sugar level or her electrolytes. Knew a guy who died at 35 of cardiac failure after he had FLU - that caused cardiomyopathy. IT HAPPENS! STOP jumping to drug conclusions until they get a tox report!
By MARK TWAIN
December 22, 2009 3:17 PM | Link to this
HEY DISGUSTED IF IT WERE CARDIAC ARREST FROM FLU IT WOULD HAVE BEEN KNOWN ALREADY IN THE PRELIM AUTOPSY !IT WAS MEDICATION TOXICITY THAT DID HER IN ~!
By null
December 22, 2009 3:51 PM | Link to this
Apparently Hollywood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. IF she died like other stars have, from a mix of narcotics, it makes me wonder what is going on out there that these folks need these drugs anyway. Disgusted is right, we do need to wait to find out what really happened. Regardless of how she died, she leaves a family hurting right now. Let’s say a prayer for them.
By Lynn
December 22, 2009 7:22 PM | Link to this
Dr. Wecht is just speculating. He doesn’t know what killed her. Mark Twain, please present your evidence that the cause of death was medication toxicity.
By mom
December 22, 2009 8:18 PM | Link to this
What killed her is an unknown at this point, and if it was meds in deadly combo don’t assume she did it on purpose. Had a Dr give me epilepsy meds in deadly doses, was a pharmicist who let me know. I didnt even have epilepsy!