The New York City medical examiner’s office has officially ruled that DJ AM’s death was “accidental.” The official cause of death is “acute intoxication” coming from a fatal mix of prescription drugs and cocaine.
I know for legal reasons the coroner has to rule a death “accidental” so it isn’t investigated as a homicide, but in cases of overdose (DJ AM, Pimp C, Heath Ledger, etc.) the term always seems strange and even tragically misleading. In the literal sense, there was almost nothing accidental about Adam Goldstein’s death. Goldstein had long struggled with an addiction to drugs, a struggle that tragically culminated when police found his shirtless body in his New York apartment on Aug. 28. Perhaps DJ AM didn’t mean to overdose - who ever does? - but ingesting massive amounts of OxyContin, Benadryl and crack is far from an accident. It’s a deliberately slow suicide, and one that appears to have been prompted by his harrowing experience in a plane crash that killed nearly everyone but himself.
His life didn’t end in one night, and it didn’t start in one night. So as we memorialize DJ AM, let’s remember that those fighting addiction deserve our compassion and help now. Their deaths are far from preventable, and they definitely not accidental.
What better was to remember the man than with his music (who else could mix Montell Jordan and G-Unit so seamlessly?:
Read more: Features, DJ AM
| Almost Forgotten |
"...those fighting addiction deserve our compassion and help now. Their deaths are far from preventable, and they're definitely not accidental." Truer words have never been spoken... |
| Posted on Sep 29, 2009 |
| Nathan S. |
@AlmostForgotten: Word. Anyone who's battled addiction or know someone who has knows just had real that it is. |
| Posted on Sep 30, 2009 |
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