Tom Petty Died From Accidental Drug Overdose Involving Opioids, Coroner Says
- 6 years ago
Tom Petty Died From Accidental Drug Overdose Involving Opioids, Coroner Says
They 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,” Mr. Petty’s family said.
Tom Petty, the chart-topping singer and songwriter, died in October from an accidental drug overdose as a result of mixing medications
that included opioids, the medical examiner-coroner for the county of Los Angeles announced on Friday, ending the mystery surrounding his sudden death last year.
“Many people who overdose begin with a legitimate injury or simply do not understand the potency and deadly nature of these medications.”
In 2016, the pop singer Prince was found to have died from an accidental overdose of self-administered
fentanyl, a synthetic opiate estimated to be more than 50 times more powerful than heroin.
In 2015, federal officials said that incidents and overdoses with fentanyl were “occurring at an alarming rate throughout the United States.” Drug
deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, according to the governmental account of nationwide drug deaths last year.
They 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,” Mr. Petty’s family said.
Tom Petty, the chart-topping singer and songwriter, died in October from an accidental drug overdose as a result of mixing medications
that included opioids, the medical examiner-coroner for the county of Los Angeles announced on Friday, ending the mystery surrounding his sudden death last year.
“Many people who overdose begin with a legitimate injury or simply do not understand the potency and deadly nature of these medications.”
In 2016, the pop singer Prince was found to have died from an accidental overdose of self-administered
fentanyl, a synthetic opiate estimated to be more than 50 times more powerful than heroin.
In 2015, federal officials said that incidents and overdoses with fentanyl were “occurring at an alarming rate throughout the United States.” Drug
deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, according to the governmental account of nationwide drug deaths last year.