While Vicky Cornell, the widow of the late music icon Chris Cornell, has insisted since her husband’s apparent suicide that anti-depressant medication was to blame for his death, an autopsy and toxicology report has been released stating that “drugs did not contribute to the cause of death.”
Michigan’s Wayne County Medical Examiner released the autopsy and toxicology report last week, Rolling Stone reports, confirming their previous belief that Cornell’s tragic death was in fact caused by suicide, despite the presence of seven different legal substances and prescription medications in his system.
While Cornell was found to have ingested various quantities of “butalbital, lorazepam, pseudoephedrine and its metabolite norpseudoephedrine, caffeine, and naloxone,” none of these were determined to have been taken in significant enough quantities to have caused the death.
“It is my opinion that death was caused by hanging,” assistant medical examiner Theodore Brown wrote a report obtained by Rolling Stone. “Based on the circumstances surrounding this death and the autopsy findings, the manner of death is suicide.”
While Vicky Cornell has pointed to uncommon depressive symptoms that can occur when too much of the anti-anxiety medication Ativan is taken, the medical examination found that the elevated levels 200 ng/mL levels found in Cornell’s system – four-to-six times higher than the average dosage of 30-50 ng/mL – were still beneath the 300 ng/mL linked to the incidents Vicky points to.
Several of the other substances discovered came from innocuous sources, including the caffeine in No-Doz tablets and pseudoephedrine found in common decongestants.
Despite the findings, Vicky Cornell has released a statement making it clear that the singer was behaving unusually in the lead-up to his death, and continues to point to a lapse in his “years of sobriety”.
“Many of us who know Chris well noticed that he wasn’t himself during his final hours and that something was very off,” she said. “We have learned from this report that several substances were found in his system. After so many years of sobriety, this moment of terrible judgment seems to have completely impaired and altered his state of mind.
“Something clearly went terribly wrong and my children and I are heartbroken and are devastated that this moment can never be taken back. We very much appreciate all of the love we have received during this extremely difficult time and are dedicated to helping others in preventing this type of tragedy.”
If you or somebody you care for needs help or information about depression, suicide, anxiety, or mental health issues, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
