EXCLUSIVE: Expert Believes Corey Haim Was Selling Prescription Drugs Before Death
Posted on Apr 06, 2010 @ 01:45PM - 5 comments
A toxicology expert believes that tragic Lost Boys star Corey Haim was selling his large bounty of drugs just prior to his sudden death, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Despite the fact that a shocking report revealed Tuesday that Haim had obtained 553 doses of prescription drugs from seven different pharmacies and doctors, Dr. Bruce Goldberger has told RadarOnline.com that he is not surprised at these quantities.
And the Director of Toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine believes that much tighter prescription regulations must be enforced to stop addicts from beating the current system.
Corey Haim Had 553 Doses Of Prescription Drugs In One Month
Dr Goldberger told RadarOnline.com: “I’m not surprised at these amounts because Corey Haim was just behaving like thousands of addicts across the country right now.
“He was probably selling some of these drugs as it was well documented that he had money problems and the tragedy is that the system totally failed him.
“To take small amounts of Valium, Soma, Vicodin and Xanaz, together could be potentially fatal and I firmly believe that he died of an accidental drugs overdose.
“The truth is that Haim knew how to work the system and until something is done to tighten things up more deaths like his are going to continue to occur.
“Celebrities like Corey Haim, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson all died unnecessarily and if stricter laws and regulations had been in place to stop them being enabled then they could still be alive today.”
EXCLUSIVE: Corey Haim’s Name Linked To Prescription Drugs Ring
Last year California introduced a new internet based prescription monitoring database which was supposed to stop drug seekers from obtaining prescription drugs – it was introduced to enable doctors and law enforcement to identify and stop prescription drug seekers.
In addition California is supposed to be one of 34 states that have the Prescription Drugs Monitoring Programme in place – the PDMP is a statewide electronic database which collects designated data on substances dispensed in the state.
Today, California Attorney General Jerry Brown Jr revealed the true extent of Haim’s abuse – his report states that between February 2, 2010 and March 5, 2010, Haim had more than 195 Valium pills, 194 Soma's, 149 Vicodin pills, and 15 Xanax pills.
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Jerry Brown said: "In a period of 32 days, Corey Haim obtained at least 553 doses of potentially dangerous prescription drugs. He died five days later. It's important for people to understand that legal, prescribed drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs, and doctor shopping can be deadly."
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According to the Attorney General's office, Haim's physician confirmed that he was addicted to pain medication, and that Haim had used at least one alias to get pain pills. The report also said that Haim was doctor shopping to get his pills. Haim's doctors told agents that he was very convincing as to why he needed prescription meds for pain claiming shoulder pain while filming a movie in Canada. Haim sought out emergency rooms and urgent care clinics to get pills. He also claimed he was not seeing any other doctors and discussed his future plans to have surgery. Some of those doctors said they felt "duped" and "conned" when they found out from Haim's primary physician that he was a drug seeker.
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As RadarOnline.com first reported Corey Haim's name was also linked to an illegal prescription drug ring in Southern California in which prescription drug pads are stolen from doctors and used illegally. The investigation has so far connected 5,000 fraudulent prescriptions and led to one arrest.
Corey Haim died on Wednesday March 10, 2010, an official cause of death still has yet to be determined.
EXCLUSIVE: Corey Haim Died Of Accidental Drugs Overdose, Says Expert
Posted on Mar 12, 2010 @ 02:13PM - 6 comments
A toxicology expert has told RadarOnline.com that he believes that Lost Boys star Corey Haim died of an accidental drugs overdose.
And tragically just like in the Brittany Murphy case Dr Bruce Goldberger the Director of Toxicology at the University Of Florida College of Medicine believes that a ‘perfect storm’ of circumstances led to Haim’s demise also.
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There had been conjecture this week that the 38-year-old actor had an enlarged heart and that his lungs had filled with water with the cause of death being pulmonary congestion.
But sources close to the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office – who performed an autopsy on Thursday – told RadarOnline.com ‘there was no conclusion of death’ and that the toxicology tests would take 4 to 5 weeks.
Corey Haim Dead Of Accidental Drugs Overdose
Dr Goldberger, who was not involved with the autopsy, said: “In my opinion it will prove to be an accidental overdose caused by the combination of three of the prescription drugs found at the scene Vicodin, Valium and Soma (a muscle relaxer), this could potentially be a lethal combination.
“Both Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy had fluid in their lungs at the time of death and it’s entirely possible that Haim did have an enlarged heart and that his lungs had become filled with water also.
“People who have been chronically using drugs over a long period usually develop cardio vascular disease which can mean an enlarged heart.
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“I have read reports that he was seeing a new treatment specialist in recent times and any detox program would have can be extremely dangerous given his past history.
“This has to be done very carefully and during the process the person can be left feeling very weak with flu like symptoms and in Haim’s case it was reported that he had these just before he died.
“Over the years he was in rehab a lot and sadly he was also under a lot of stress because his mother was receiving treatment for cancer too.
“I just hope this does not turn-out to be another case where a young star has been getting drugs through enablers because that is becoming far to prevalent with cases like Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy and Michael Jackson all raising major suspicions.”
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Immediately following Haim’s death on Wednesday a close friend of the actor told RadarOnline.com that they knew that Corey had been abusing prescription drugs to help him cope with the fact that his mom Judy Haim had breast cancer.
His best friend and Lost Boys co-star Corey Feldman told talk show host Larry King that he believed that a variety of factors could have resulted in the shock death.
Feldman said: “This could have been a kidney failure, a heart failure, a mixture of drugs or it could have been that your body shuts down after years of abuse.
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“I know that he was seeing a treatment specialist who was new in the mix. He'd only been seeing him for the past two weeks.
“That treatment specialist put him on a new line of medication which may not have corresponded properly with the medication that he was currently taking.”
EXCLUSIVE: Brittany Murphy's Death A 'Perfect Storm' Of Drugs & Pneumonia, Says Doctor
Posted on Feb 04, 2010 @ 04:20PM - 15 comments
Toxicology expert Dr. Bruce Goldberger told RadarOnline.com that Brittany Murphy’s death was a “perfect storm” of an accidental drug overdose combined with pneumonia.
And the Professor and Director of Toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine added he was “not surprised” at the findings, which he compared to the death of actor Heath Ledger.
Dr Goldberger told RadarOnline.com: “Misusing prescription drugs when you have pneumonia increases the risk of a potentially lethal outcome.
“It was the ‘perfect storm’ with the combination of a significant illness and the use of prescription drugs – it was the misuse of these drugs that led to her accidental death.
“Tragically, in this day and age, treating her pneumonia properly should not have led to somebody of Brittany Murphy’s age dying.
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“I had suspected that drugs had played a part in her death just as in the Heath Ledger case and sadly today’s findings confirm that to me. The results are consistent with the fact that her family reported that she was not feeling well.”
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office issued a press release Thursday listing the manner of Murphy’s death as accidental and the cause of her death as “community acquired pneumonia.” Other conditions specified were iron deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication. Under the category “how injury occurred” the coroner listed “drug intake.”
As RadarOnline.com reported earlier Thursday the toxicology reports will not be made public for a few weeks.
According to the reportedly leaked notes of an investigator from the coroner’s office, the medications found in Murphy’s bedroom included: Klonopin (anxiety med), Carbamazepine (treats Diabetic symptoms and is also a bipolar med), Ativan (anxiety med), Vicoprofen (pain reliever), Hydrocodone (pain med) , Topamax (anti-seizure med also to prevent migraines), Propranolol (hypertension, used to prevent heart attacks), Biaxin (antibiotic), Methylprednisolone (anti-inflammatory), Fluoxetine (depression med) and miscellaneous vitamins. Some of the bottles were full while some were empty, the investigator wrote.
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Murphy died at her Hollywood Hills home on December 20, 2009 at age 32. Her British husband Simon Monjack had said that the 8 Mile star was taking medication to cope with menstrual pains each month.
Dr Goldberger, who did not treat Murphy, added: “Some women have iron deficiencies when they menstruate each month while others just have lower iron levels inherently too.
“This must have shown up as a result of a test for this particular deficiency and that could have been done because of information obtained from her prior medical records or by speaking with the family about her medical history.
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“Unfortunately, Brittany Murphy was not looking after herself at a time when she was obviously sick.”
BREAKING NEWS: Brittany Murphy Dead
Brittany Murphy's Death Certificate Released
Posted on Dec 29, 2009 @ 01:02PM - 2 comments
The death certificate of actress Brittany Murphy was released Tuesday.
Read Brittany Murphy’s Death Certificate
In the paper, the manner of death of the 32-year-old star is checked as ‘pending investigation’ while the cause of death states ‘deferred’.
The manner of death possibilities include accidental, natural homicide, suicide and undetermined – the Los Angeles Coroner’s office is still awaiting toxicology tests before determining the exact cause of death for the actress who died suddenly in December 20 after suffering cardiac arrest at her Hollywood Hills home.
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The Sin City and 8 Mile star was laid to rest with a small, private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve.
According to a senior source at the coroner’s office, the medications found in Murphy’s bedroom included: Klonopin (anxiety med), Carbamazepine (treats Diabetic symptoms and is also a bipolar med), Ativan (anxiety med), Vicoprofen (pain reliever), Hydrocodone (pain med) , Topamax (anti-seizure med also to prevent migraines), Propranolol (hypertension, used to prevent heart attacks), Biaxin (antibiotic), Methylprednisolone (anti-inflammatory), Fluoxetine (depression med) and miscellaneous vitamins. Some of the bottles were full while some were empty, the source also told us.
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Dr. Bruce Goldberger, College Professor and Director of Toxicology at the University Of Florida of Medicine told RadarOnline.com that mixing a number of these drugs could have resulted in her death.
“At the moment it is pointing towards an overdose or at least that will have to be ruled out by the autopsy or toxicology results,” he said.
The results of Murphy’s toxicology tests will not be released for a few more weeks.
