Brittany Murphy, who died December 20, had a long list of medications, some for anxiety. One drug, reports say, was a pain reliever following plastic surgery.
Brittany Murphy died on December 20 after going into cardiac arrest, and was subject to an autopsy on December 21. Toxicology reports are pending, so there isn’t yet a final word on how this actress died at only 32 years old. These results often take several weeks to determine.
However, official investigations point down some uneasy roads. A survey of Murphy’s bedside cabinet showed a daunting roster of pills. The Boston Herald revealed that she had prescriptions for Klonopin, Ativan, Hydrocodone, Fluoxetine and Carbamazepine , among others – medicines used for anxiety or depression, with one of them designed to treat both diabetes and bipolar disorder.
Other reports, including the Dallas Examiner, have also discussed her use of Vicodin, suggesting she used it regularly to treat pain resulting from plastic surgery. In late 2008, MakeMeHeal.com cited the possibility of Murphy having lip injections and rhinoplasty, since comparison photos showed facial differences. The actress never confirmed the rumors.
But Vicodin, plastic surgery and cardiac arrest were factors in the case file of an even bigger star: Michael Jackson.
“Mixing a number of these drugs could have resulted in her death,” Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a professor and director of toxicology at the University Of Florida College of Medicine told RadarOnline.com about Murphy’s passing. “At the moment, it is pointing toward an overdose – or, at least, that will have to be ruled out by the autopsy or toxicology results.”
And to be sure, those results are still pending; a verdict of death by overdose remains ill-advised. Murphy’s husband, Simon Monjack, is well aware of rumors about her drug abuse and has denied them as far as her death is concerned.
“My wife did not take anything on the morning of her death that would have caused her to be sick or ill, let alone die,” he told New York Daily News. “It’s beyond even the sickest speculation.”
At this point, unfortunately, nearly everything about Brittany Murphy’s death is only speculation – be it sick or reasonable. Medical reports of the near future, though, will either put to rest some of these troubling rumors or confirm them.
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Clifton Jack responded:
Murphy’s death is a tragedy, period. But so are the countless other deaths caused by the same thing: prescription drug abuse. Because a doctor prescribes a drug does not mean it is safe to take in unlimited quantities or with booze or other drugs. Celebrity docs are nortorous for not being able to say no. Stars ask and they deliver and deliver and deliver, until there’s no one there to deliver to. Murphy’s docs are probably lawyered up and the several weeks it takes for the ME rport to come back will give them plenty of time to concoct their defenses but the fact remains, Murph is as dead as the proverbial doorknob. Maybe others might learn something from this, including the celebrity docs who fill their offices with celebrity photos and memorabilia from Hollywood. Maybe they need to post a few celebrity tox screens, beginning with Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy’s.