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It is certainly possible, although it requires a large dose. The LD50 is 200 mg/kg. LD50 is the dose at which 50% of the test subjects die (done on rats.)

At 325 mg per tablet, it would take 56 tablets to achieve this dose in a 200 pound man. Many people have taken more than that and survived, however aspirin is a blood thinner. According to the article, Kelly recently had surgery. If it was any serious surgery, the surgeon would have told him to avoid aspirin because of the blood thinning effect. So it’s possible that he knew aspirin was dangerous and used it to kill himself, or it’s possible that others knew it, too.

have never, ever heard of anyone OD’ing on aspirin. Is that even possible?

Absolutely...it is a blood thinner. Aspirin is a dangerous drug when taken improperly. There may have been other drugs involved but it is certainly possible to overdose on aspirin.

Overdose of Aspirin (salicylate poisoning) is common....mostly in young children who like the taste of Baby Bayor Orange Flavored aspirin. The thing which strikes me is the quickness of his death. There are several stages of salicylate toxicity. It begins with tinnitiis, vomiting, thirst, and diaphoresis. As the levels build up in the bloodstream the patient begins to breath very fast (tachypnea) leading to a respiratory alkalosis which is the result of the drugs' stimulation of the central nervous system. The third phase, which is the time during which one, untreated, dies, is characterized by a metabolic alkalosis. During the phase of metabolic acidosis one may fall prey to a hypokalemic (low potassium) level and then to a cardic dysrhythmia incompatible with life.

I say all of this to say, once a person is in a profound metabolic acidosis, they usually are not explaining what transpired during their day.

He would have had to take in excess of 20 grams of salicylate.

My question is....."With this man talking to the police, even if obtunded, it seems very, very reasonable to believe he could have been take to the nearest medical facility for treatment, which is fairly standard ER/Internal Medicine fare. How could he have been conscious, speaking, and lucid and once he told them he OD'd of aspirin and then not rushed to the ER. Something is fishy.