Five drugs in his system and death was accidental? UD needs to bone up on accidentality theory.
Five drugs in his system and death was accidental? UD needs to bone up on accidentality theory.
Trackback URL for this post:
https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-trackback.php?p=69149
March 9th, 2022 at 3:04PM
The difference between accidental and deliberate death is *intent*, which is always a little difficult to determine.
Was the person taking those drugs in order to commit suicide?
Did someone inject them with those drugs without permission?
Someone doing something risky (like taking street drugs for recreation) and dying from it is still an accidental death.
March 9th, 2022 at 3:36PM
gasstation: Well, but there’s risky and there’s almost certain to cause death. This case sounds like overkill – like Belushi, like Heath Ledger, like Philip Seymour Hoffman – so the use of the term “accidental” seems to me almost comical, and beyond doubt inaccurate.
As you say, it comes down to “intent,” but since when is anything as conscious and straightforward as intentionality a feature of a super drug addict? One thing we can say for certain is that such people are radically self-destructive, and that their deaths by the massive numbers and types of drugs they’re injecting/swallowing, while not necessary “conscious” and fully “intent” suicides, are equally certainly not what most people would categorize as accidents. We need a third term.
March 10th, 2022 at 4:21PM
I agree we need a third term. What about “temerarious?” The word has fallen out of favor but it may be time for its reemergence.
A temerarious death was not one that was intentionally sought, but rather resulted from careless disregard for the obvious and signifcant inherent risks of death from engaging in the behavior.
March 10th, 2022 at 5:02PM
Aging Immigrant: I didn’t know that form of the word temerity existed… If only we could simplify it to temarious it might catch on, but temerarious seems too awkward/difficult for most English speakers. It works beautifully in terms of definition, though.