Heath Ledger died from Polypharmacy

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http://www.bigpond.com/news/entertainme ... 156344.asp

Polypharmacy means pharmacological interaction. So basically it was a mistake that killed him.

Well, it was overdose due to polypharmacy, not just interaction. He was a lot of different stuff, some of it redundant. If that stuff was all prescribed by one doctor, then that's malpractice. If he or an assistant of his "shopped", then it's a terrible mistake. Doc shopping is obtaining prescriptions from various sources so they don't know what the patient's comprehensive intake is.

People need to be more responsible for their own medical care, and doctors should encourage this. So often people leave it solely up to the doctors and pharmacists and they believe that whatever is handed to them will be safe to take. Very sadly, in cases like Heath Ledger's, this isn't always the case. Not everyone realizes the dangers of certain drug interactions, nor do they always resport fully all of the medications they are currently taking.

An older friend of mine had an experience about three years ago where he felt odd and visited the doctor. His doctor was horrified to learn that he was taking a potentially lethal drug combination and his organs were starting to react. Fortunately he did not ignore his symptoms or he would not be here.