[flabasha]

I was reading an article on CNN about the autopsy and investigation, and I noticed this timeline, which they made nothing more of...

"Masseuse Diana Wolozin arrived at the apartment about 2:45 p.m. to give Ledger a massage, according to the police source. About 15 minutes later, when he had not come out of the bedroom and the door remained closed, she went in, saw him lying in bed and set up a massage table.

She shook Ledger, but he did not respond, so she used his cell phone to call actress Mary-Kate Olsen, a friend of Ledger's, in California, the source said.
Wolozin told Olsen that Ledger was unconscious, according to the police source. Olsen reportedly told her that she would call private security people in New York.

At 3:26 p.m., Wolozin called 911 and told authorities Ledger was not breathing. While on the phone with dispatchers, Wolozin tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Ledger, but he was unresponsive."

The assumption (at least from the stated evidence) is that Ledger was breathing when she called Olsen, or she would have mentioned it... so they waited 26 minutes for Mary Kate's crack security force, at which point he'd stopped breathing. Once the masseuse did call 911, he was pronounced dead only 10 minutes later, meaning the EMT's were there in about 7 minutes after the call that should have been made a half hour earlier.

Moral of the story? If you can't wake someone up, but they're still breathing, DON'T CALL YOUR BUDDY. Or Mary Kate Olsen. Think about, maybe, oh, 911. Now that sounds harsh, and if she simply didn't check his breathing at first (which seems doubtful), I apologize. But if not, what a stupid reason to die.

The cause of death should read "Discovered Unconscious by Idiots".

[Big Mac]

I have to agree with you. It seems, however, that the synopsis of his death reads more like a bad movie plot than a real life tragedy. I'm also wondering if the Masseuse had been afraid to call 911 for some reason and thus chose to call monkey girl, who in turn was also fearful of the cops(?) and decided to send hired goons instead.

[Chuckit]

She probably thought he was strung out and didn't want to cause a scandal for him by calling the hospital prematurely.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

She probably thought he was strung out and didn't want to cause a scandal for him by calling the hospital prematurely.

So she opened herself up to a possible wrongful death lawsuit by his family.

[iranfromthezoo]

You'd be surprised at how many people do not call 911. I've been on many calls where people just freaked and they called someone else who then in turn called 911 or told them to hang up and call 911! I've been to many house fires to where the house could have been saved if we got there just 2 minutes earlier...same with a full code (CPR call). Many people don't think about what they will do in certain situations and when that situation comes up they don't know what to do and forget about the 911 system.

Person Man - The lady cannot be sued for wrongful death for calling someone before 911. The intent was shown that she was concerned and she did call 911 and did CPR. She is protected by the Good Samaritan Law. Now if she was certified in CPR or trained in First Aid she could be held liable because she has a duty to act by law, but if she had no prior training or experience she did what she thought was right.

[Full-Auto]

I doubt a jury will find her guilty of wrongful death given the guy was loaded with drugs.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

I'm surprised anyone would be stupid enough to mix this many drugs yet celebrities do it all the time.

Accidental Pill Overdose Killed Heath Ledger - Superhero Hype!

[- - e r i k - -]

Prescription medication, not illegal drugs.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Prescription medication, not illegal drugs.

Naw really? Turns out he might have been better off with the illegal stuff.

[natnabour]

It was my understanding that the reason why the masseuse called Kate Olson is because her bodyguard is an EMT (and she lives in the same building?) MY assumption is that the masseuse thought Olson's EMT Bodyguard is a closer source and in the building, and would therefore get there faster than the police or the paramedics. As it turns out, that was not the case.

[Kerrigan]

How did she know to call MK Olsen? Something is fishy about that.

I mean really, if I'm a plumber coming over to Oprah's place to find her lying face down on the floor still breathing, I'm not going to call Lil Bow Wow and ask for help. I'm gonna call 911.

Now, if I'm a plumber who sometimes shoots up heroin over at Oprah's place with Bow Wow, and then one day I come in and see her face down, then yea, I'm gonna call Bow Wow first to see if he can help before I involve the police.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan 

How did she know to call MK Olsen?

It was rumored that Heath was going out with Mary-Kate, and it sounds like this was a masseuse he saw often, so the masseuse may have been acquainted with her as Heath's SO.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Full-Auto 

I doubt a jury will find her guilty of wrongful death given the guy was loaded with drugs.

If you were loaded with drugs and passed out, wouldn't your family be pissed if they found out that someone waited 45 minutes before calling 911?

It's still wrongful death if there's a chance a person can be saved and the person doing the discovering delays calling 911 for too long, drugs or not.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by iranfromthezoo 

Person Man - The lady cannot be sued for wrongful death for calling someone before 911. The intent was shown that she was concerned and she did call 911 and did CPR. She is protected by the Good Samaritan Law. Now if she was certified in CPR or trained in First Aid she could be held liable because she has a duty to act by law, but if she had no prior training or experience she did what she thought was right.

Perhaps, but in this day and age, you never know. Just because someone is protected by the law doesn't mean people won't try to sue. And even if the judge throws the case out before the case even goes to trial, there will have been lots of money spent by the person to try to defend themselves.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I'm surprised anyone would be stupid enough to mix this many drugs yet celebrities do it all the time.

Accidental Pill Overdose Killed Heath Ledger - Superhero Hype!

He might have taken the Xanax cuz he was anxious about taking so many drugs!

[drmcnutt]

I had read somewhere that during the initial examination they observed slight rigor mortis suggesting he had been dead for a few hours. Regardless the big assumption is that an EMT could have revived him. Depending on the toxicity that could be a big if.

Sad to see him go. This could have been prevented by more than a phone call. Although it's a common euphanism for stars to check into facilities for "exhaution" while harboring a drug problem, here Ledger should have done exactly that.

[KeriVit]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I'm surprised anyone would be stupid enough to mix this many drugs yet celebrities do it all the time.

Accidental Pill Overdose Killed Heath Ledger - Superhero Hype!

No, celebrities are the ones we hear of doing it. 2 people I know (barely) have done this in the last 2 months. And they are both dead.Also, seeing that I'm "married" to a paramedic I hear of many more cases or close calls.

[flabasha]

Yeah, I had a friend die a month ago from taking an Oxycodone and drinking with friends. Just never woke up.

The toxicity of your average "party" drug seems to have increased to much more lethal levels than when I was in my 20's (last decade).

[Kerrigan]

Originally Posted by KeriVit 

I'm "married" to a paramedic

what's with those scare quotes?

[Shaddim]

From what I read, he'd been stone cold for hours, nothing they could have done.