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‘The medical examiner reported that Freeman had fentanyl, cocaine, hydrocodone, oxycodone and alprazolam (generic Xanax) in his system and the manner of his death has been ruled accidental.’

Five drugs in his system and death was accidental? UD needs to bone up on accidentality theory.

Margaret Soltan, March 9, 2022 2:03PM
Posted in: kind of a little weird

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4 Responses to “‘The medical examiner reported that Freeman had fentanyl, cocaine, hydrocodone, oxycodone and alprazolam (generic Xanax) in his system and the manner of his death has been ruled accidental.’”

  1. gasstationwithoutpumps Says:

    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.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    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.

  3. Aging Immigrant Says:

    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.

  4. Margaret Soltan Says:

    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.

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