"The coroner’s office listed Petty’s official cause of death as “multisystem organ failure due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to mixed drug toxicity,” noting the singer suffered from coronary artery atherosclerosis and emphysema.
Petty had been prescribed the drugs to treat emphysema, knee issues and a fractured hip, his family said in a statement accompanying the results. Petty’s coronary artery disease had been a persistent problem throughout his final tour.
“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,” Petty’s wife Dana and daughter Adria wrote in the statement. “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 overuse of medication.”
Lots of “euphemisms”, if you will, in those selected quotes IMO.
I really appreciate Mr. Petty’s work and legacy. And, I have no doubt the mileage was piling up (sort of quoting “Dr. Jones Jr.” here).
However, from what I have read, the family has taken great pains in the media to counter the drug overdose stigma. Reports I have read don’t seem to suggest the “mixed drug toxicity” was made up of entirely prescribed medications.*
I certainly don’t intend to besmirch his reputation now that he is gone. Rather, I wish it wasn’t so, but not nearly as strongly as I am sure his family does.
All too familiar an end for many of our creative, musical treasures, I am afraid…
Cheers.
*The coroner identified fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprozolam, citalopram, acetyl fentanyl, and despropionyl fentanyl in his system at the time of death.
“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.”
I was quoting that to give context for his death rather than make any judgements about the family’s statement. If I had all those issues - never mind having to front a tour - I’d likely take advantage of whatever medications were available. Perhaps you’re made of sterner stuff. If so, “cheers” to you as well.
Fentanyl is without doubt a very dangerous drug. I remember when it showed up in Chicago a decade or so ago (in our suburban consciousness anyway) with the deaths of our high school’s soccer captain and his buddy. Assumedly they thought they were getting the usual watered-down smack they were used to. Haven’t been able to figure out why dealers didn’t simply make X times more product to sell, rather than making it X times stronger. But perhaps at that point they were just seeing how it went over with the customers.
Seems that when Cheers is used here it is often intended as or at least reads as…less than jolly. Not sure why the word is there otherwise. If I’ve offended you, I apologize.
You’re welcome to read my response as insolent though that seems a strong word. The impugning of my integrity hadn’t crossed my mind.
I guess what gets me is the ease of judging of people’s lives and deaths. Most musicians I’ve known are very ordinary folks, in no way superhuman with the possible exception of their talent for playing an instrument or singing - or maybe both. Would you be OK if he had survived - took just a bit less of the things he likely took his whole career to one degree or another - so that he was still making music for your enjoyment?
By the way/coincidentally, I spent about 90 minutes late last night cherry picking various studio releases and concert performances by TP&HBs c/o my Roon/Qobuz/Tidal subscriptions.
There are some really great recordings of earlier concerts out there.
If I remember correctly a piece of pure fentanyl the size of a grain of sand will kill a human. Personally I have no idea why it has allure to the druggies except the cost must be way less than scraping poppies.
It does have use in the medical industry but I have no knowledge of how when or where.
“Now was there ever any man seen to sleep in the cart, between Newgate and Tyburn? Between the prison, and the place of execution, does any man sleep? And we sleep all the way; from the womb to the grave we are never thoroughly awake.”
On the other end of the spectrum, I was just searching the topic of, “How do you clean your record cleaning brush?” because I’m doing a lot of it lately. Cleaning records, that is - so my brushes get funky. And needle brushes.
So here’s the Quote from a thread from a few years ago:
“Everyone is my teacher. Some I seek. Some I subconsciously attract. Often I learn simply by observing others. Some may be completely unaware that I’m learning from them, yet I bow deeply in gratitude.” ~ Eric Allen
