i agree - hard to believe taking 4 different CNS depressants was ‘accidental’. but at least two of the benzie’s were hypnotics, and hypnotics can cause one to forget they took anything and so the person takes more, or takes another benzie or narcotic, and, boom - od’s.
one thing that stood out to me was the housekeeper reporting that Ledg was ‘snoring’ - not all snorers have sleep apnea, but almost all sleep apnea’ics snore - if Ledger had sleep apnea he shouldn’t have been taking ANY CNS depressants at all, much less four! benzies, and that is something he should have disclosed to his prescribing physicians.
the main cause of death in sleep apnea is brain malfunction - the apnea’ic holds their breath during sleep until the blood chemistry (too much CO2 buildup) tells the brain to tell the lungs to breathe, but sometimes the brain says, eh, why put out the effort? - so a person just stops breathing altogether and dies from heart attack. Usually after 10 or 20 seconds the brain self-corrects, and breathing starts again. But mix in CNS depressants, and the brain remains supressed and it ‘forgets’ to initiate breathing and the person dies pretty quickly.
at least, that’s how I understand it works :)
the moral of the story is, people should tell their doctor if they snore before asking for any CNSs or narcotic pain meds!
I had a little bit different take on it, but with sleep apnea in mind, too. I’ve had it once, for a short period of time when I first developed this asthma, and it scared me to death.
I’ve known several people who had it with whom I spent overnight time every now and then, and *theirs* scared me, too. I woke up every time the snoring stopped, even from the next room.
Anyway, I figure his housekeeper would know *his snore,* so that’s probably right. But my first thought had been more morbid. I was also thinking of Daniel’s autopsy with the “bloody froth” found in his lungs that the path said indicated a drug OD.
While I’m not sure of the exact mechanism that the body goes through right at that time, it would certainly seem like there would be a gurgling sound and a struggle for breath. Maybe not the actual “death rattle,” which was what I was thinking, but something close to it.