| rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski 2004-11-10, 2:13 am |
| http://nwanews.com/story_print.php?...n&storyid=21500
Crime lab says cough syrup drug may have caused student's death
BY KATE WARD Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Saturday, November 6, 2004
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/story/nwat/21500
The Fayetteville Police Department announced the findings of a toxicology
report in reference to the recent death of a university of Arkansas student.
On the morning of Oct. 2, Bradley Barrett Kemp, 20, was taken to Washington
Regional Medical Center after a friend called 911 to report that Kemp was
ill after consuming alcohol and hydrocodone, a drug that had been prescribed
to him as a cough suppressant, the previous night. Kemp was pronounced dead
at the hospital.
A sample of Kemp's blood was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for
analysis. The Fayetteville Police Department said the results revealed no
evidence of alcohol but did reveal a toxic amount of the drug
dextromethorphan combined with other drugs, the report continued.
Dextromethorphan is an ingredient in over-the-counter cough syrup; if too
much is consumed, the result can be fatal. It appears Kemp's death was a
result of selfmedicating himself with dextromethorphan, diazepam,
nordiazepam, hydrocodone and alprazolam, the police report stated. "There
was a toxic amount of dextromethorphan in his system, and that alone can be
fatal," said Sergeant Shannon Gabbard. "When it is combined with other
drugs, the risk of fatality becomes even higher."
This investigation is continuing.
|