My Dad Died of Cardiac Arrest Related to an Accidental Drug Overdose and I Really Need to Know Why and How?
Question by HeyHeyHeyyyyy: My dad died of cardiac arrest related to an accidental drug overdose and I really need to know why and how?
My dad died yesterday afternoon. I found him slumped over on his side, laying in bed. When I found him I tried to perform CPR (I’m a nursing student……I SHOULD know this). But instead I panicked and I know I didnt perform the procedure correctly. I know these moments were crucial and I know I failed him. But I digress…
He had been taking, to my knowledge, methadone/oxycontin/xanax/prozac…as far as I know. He suffered from COPD and emphysema (according to the coroner, “bolus emphysema” which I am not familiar with).. the coroner also told me that he had cor pulmonale (right sided heart failure?). My mother was not aware of this..neither was his doctor…nobody was. I suspected it because of various signs and symptoms I had learned about in nursing school. My mother told me that the doctor had just “checked his heart” and that she said his circulation etc was great…..but I just dont understand, if a person has advanced COPD it seems as if any issue with the lungs would probably be an issue with the heart as well?? At least I feel this way.
Anyways. The coroner told me the cause of death was “accidental drug overdose (related to the methadone and xanax”, compounded by the bolus emphysema and cor pulmonale. After my unsuccessful attempt at CPR the paramedics came and took his body into the living room….his eyes were wide open….bright blue. The paramedics attempted a breathing tube (I think) and atropine. One paramedic suggested epi and the other refused; they were almost arguing. It seems as if the epi would have been most effective…as far as my limited knowledge is concerned. He went into V Fib at a point, then I heard a paramedic say “its asystole”. I remember studying for tests and remembering it was the worst because “if your v fib your v f**ked”……..so this was unsettling to hear and even more unsettling when I heard asystole. I know what that is. That means nada, nothing, gone…. I could tell he was in V fib looking at the EKG as they were placing tubes down his throat and IVs into his arm for the atropine. I knew he was dead because I was staring at the EKG the entire time almost and saw the progression into asystole. I looked at the paramedic and said, I know what that means….that means he is dead. To which they said “I cant answer that question ma’am…we’ll do whatever we can”…..
Because the coroner described his cause of death as “accidental overdose”…I really want to know exactly how this accidental overdose killed my father and how it relates to the cor pulmonale and the bolus emphysema…copd etc. Did the methadone and xanax cause his respirations to decrease, becoming nearly absent and THEN he went into v fib and ultimately asystole…or did the dysrhythmias cause him to stop breathing and then he died? Right when I found him I grabed my stethoscope and he had no heartbeat and his chest was not rising, no peripheral pulses either… could the proper administration of CPR by myself perhaps have saved his life? By the time I found him was he breathing and I simply made an error?
Basically as the old saying, the chicken or the egg….which came first, the vfib/asystole or the absence of breathing?
Is it strange to anyone else that his GP said only weeks ago his “heart was perfectly normal”?
Do you think maybe this wasnt methadone/xanax related (he was prescribed and had the most atrocious spinal problems you could ever imagine…his pain was great and the meds were taken as prescribed)……plus the coroner has not performed any blood tests..all he knows is that I told him my dad was prescribed to these medicines. Is he making a snap judgement?
Also, the days leading up to his death he was lethargic, disoriented, and in a stupor. He was acting strange…talking about his death.. when I found him he was covered in sweat. The bed was wet. When only moments before he had been fine.. could these preceding days have been a sign? He was saying strange things and would cry for no reason. He told me the night before he died that he would die soon… we got into a huge fight. I screamed at him a mere 20 minutes before I found him dead..the last thing I said to him was “I hate you. I cant wait to get out of this house so I never have to see you again. Your a miserable excuse for a human being”.
God help me… I severely messed up.
Someone give me closure, please.
Best answer:
Answer by Emily
Do not feel bad……… Well it is true that he probably had a heart attack or maybe stroke.I knoW it sounds silly but I Want to be a doctor. What happened Was idk sorry.
You did not make an error.
Hoped i helped
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Methadone Overdose: Parents Not Guilty Of Manslaughter In Methadone Death
A judge in Calgary has found two parents guilty of failing to provide the necessities of life after their 16-month-old daughter died of a methadone overdose in 2006. Lisa Guerin and Jonathan Hope were acquitted of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. Summer Hope died after consuming the powerful legal drug, which is used to treat addictions. Court heard that her father told two officers he got his daily dose of methadone at a clinic, but spat a mouthful into a coffee cup and brought it home. The Crown’s key witness, a friend of Guerin’s, testified that both parents saw Summer with an orange stain on her shirt and assumed she had ingested the drug. But lawyers for both parents argued there was no evidence of either a coffee cup or stained clothing, and that neither knew how dangerous methadone could be.
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