Tom Petty died of accidental drug overdose, medical examiner says - Printable Version +- IOPList.Org (https://www.ioplist.org) +-- Forum: Off Topic (https://www.ioplist.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=25) +--- Forum: World News (https://www.ioplist.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=27) +--- Thread: Tom Petty died of accidental drug overdose, medical examiner says (/showthread.php?tid=4175)

Tom Petty died of accidental drug overdose, medical examiner says - IceWizard - 01-20-2018 By Ralph Ellis, CNN Updated 9:38 PM ET, Fri January 19, 2018 (CNN)Musician Tom Petty died of an accidental drug overdose of several medications, a statement from his family, posted on tompetty.com, and a news release from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said Friday. The family statement, which also was posted on Facebook, said Petty, 66, had suffered several ailments before his October 3 death. Despite this painful injury he insisted on keeping his commitment to his fans and he toured for 53 dates with a fractured hip and, as he did, it worsened to a more serious injury. On the day he died he was informed his hip had graduated to a full-on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his over use of medication," according to the statement from Dana Petty, his wife, and Adria Petty, his daughter. Tom Petty died October 2. The medical examiner's news release said the autopsy found these drugs in Petty's system: fentanyl, oxycodone, acetyl fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl, which are opioids; temazepam and alprazolam, which are sedatives; and citalopram, an antidepressant. The cause of death was "multisystem organ failure due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to mixed drug toxicity" and the manner of death was "accident," the medical examiner's news release said. Petty also suffered from coronary artery atherosclerosis and emphysema, it said. Acetyl fentanyl has not been approved for medical use in the United States and there are no published studies on safety for human use. It is classified as a schedule I drug. Fentanyl, a powerful prescription painkiller, has created a national health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that of the more than 64,000 US overdose deaths in 2016 from all drugs, more than 20,000 were attributed to synthetic opioids, many of them related to fentanyl and its variations. Fentanyl has previously struck the music world. Prince died of an overdose of the drug at his home in 2016. Petty collapsed at his home in Malibu and was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where he died. At the time, his manager attributed the death to cardiac arrest. The statement from Petty's wife and daughter said: "We knew before the report was shared with us that he was prescribed various pain medications for a multitude of issues including fentanyl patches and we feel confident that this was, as the coroner found, an unfortunate accident. "As a family we recognize this report may spark a further discussion on the opioid crisis and we feel that it is a healthy and necessary discussion and we hope in some way this report can save lives. Many people who overdose begin with a legitimate injury or simply do not understand the potency and deadly nature of these medications." Petty had talked about his drug problems in the past. In a 2015 biography, Petty discussed his struggle with heroin addiction in 1997, following the collapse of his 20-year marriage and a failed album. "Tried to go cold turkey, and that wouldn't work," Petty said in the book. "It's an ugly f***ing thing." Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers first came to fame in the 1970s, breaking through to the mainstream with their third album, "Damn the Torpedoes." With that group and as a solo artist, Petty had a string of hits across the decades, including "Free Fallin'," "American Girl" and "I Won't Back Down." The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Petty collaborated with numerous artists over the years, including Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and the Grateful Dead. He joined fellow music legends Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison in 1988 to form The Traveling Wilburys. Petty and the Heartbreakers had finished a summer tour with three performances at the Hollywood Bowl not long before his death. RE: Tom Petty died of accidental drug overdose, medical examiner says - masterthief - 01-20-2018 Damn.  I knew about it, but still, he was one of the best.  Always evolving. RE: Tom Petty died of accidental drug overdose, medical examiner says - Rafterman - 01-23-2018 I loved Petty, as a musician and as a person. Still can't believe that he is gone. I think that he may have a made a fatal error by continuing to tour with that broken hip. I know that touring was his life, but if you have to be on two kinds of f_nt, oxy, t-pam and ALP...it would beg the question of whether he would need all that if he didn't tour and just rested. He still could have created music without all that wear and tear on his body. Loading your body up with that cocktail of pk and benozos just sounds excessive to me, unless there was a life or death reason that you had to push your body to those limits. Yes, it was cool that he wanted to please the fans, and that he lived for touring, but at some point he must have realized that he was risking his life. Doctors advice is one thing, but there comes a point where personal responsibility kicks in. Tom had been around. I am sure the possibility that he might be taking a potentially dangerous combo of meds crossed his mind more than once. But he pushed on anyway. His actions were both heroic and reckless at the same time. I wish that he was still with us.