Heche will need strong pain killers. That’s going to be a big problem for someone that already has addictions.
Johnny Cash got clean for a long time. He was badly injured by an ostrich. Johnny’s belly got ripped open. He had surgery, took pain killers and got addicted again. Got clean and eventually heart bypass. More pain killers. It’s a vicious cycle staying clean.
Well, duh, there’s not really a question that she was intoxicated. The point most in this thread are saying is that mental illness can cause awful, destructive behavior. And she evidently had been suffering from mental illness for a very long time. Nobody is excusing her behavior.
Particularly when mental illness is involved. Tragic.
Given that she was intubated as part of her initial treatment I suspect performing a breathalyzer would have been problematic at best. They may not have bothered with urine test if things were hectic enough other matters were of more concern at the moment. Not sure a blood draw is standard for initial treatment of burns, either. Really, any reliable medical test could serve in court, but the priority in the ER and ICU would be saving her life, not gathering evidence.
Yes, I’m aware she recorded a podcast. I am not at all clear about the content of said podcast, such as whether she was discussing that particular day or some other day or just having a bad day in general. As @susan said it’s not even clear if the podcast was recorded the day of her crashes or at an earlier time. With TMZ (who are decent in reporting entertainment news) saying it was recorded Monday, well, that’s five days before Heche’s crashes. Absent a dated transcript I’m not going to draw a conclusion based on that.
Depends on the “mental problems”. In 2000 she had an episode where she believed she was God and had access to a spaceship.. It’s questionable how responsible someone in such a state may be for their actions. Although LA law enforcement (as reported here described her as “under the influence” and “erratic” that was based on behavior and not a definitive test of substance abuse.
While I, along with pretty much everyone else, might suspect alcohol or drugs were involved we don’t actually know, and with her mental health history it’s possible the only thing she was under the influence of at the time was her own disordered brain chemistry. Why is the distinction important? Because the treatment for those two alternatives differs considerably. It’s also possible she was “under the influence” of both those conditions.
This is not said in defense of her or her actions. I say it because she’s a human being who deserves, like all people, to receive appropriate care for whatever ails her. Maybe I’m just a kind-hearted soul who believes even criminals should be treated humanely. It’s not about sympathy, it’s about ethics. And yes, unless she was so mentally unhinged as to truly not be responsible for her actions what she did was criminal. However, legal consequences will have to wait until after her medical treatment, which will be long and arduous. At the very least, someone should look into Heche providing restitution to those she has harmed. Given what a major burn injury can cost and do to anyone’s finances that financial restitution may or may not be possible.
We don’t know if she was drunk, high, or suicidal at the time - or even all three at one. We don’t know if she was experiencing a break from reality as she did in 2000. We might not ever know for sure.
There are ways to manage pain control in someone with a history of addictions/substance abuse. She’ll also need psychiatric support as well.
No, blood and urine would be obtained as soon as possible. Blood with the initial IV start, if possible. Any major trauma should have their urine checked for blood and a major burn pt will require aggressive IV fluids. Their fluid intake and output closely measured, she likely had a foley catheter within 90 min of arrival at the hosp, we send a routine urine specimen to the lab with every foley we place, no problem running a common drug screen on it (forget the CSI stuff).
All the legal alcohol evidence I’ve seen gathered in my ER involves an officer on scene with lab drawing a tube just for them that they take with them using chain of custody protocols, do you have a cite for routine labs results being used in court?
No, I don’t but information can be subpoena’d. Whomever is doing the asking would have to justify the request to a judge, of course, but while medical records have a lot of privacy laws around them they aren’t impenetrable.
And of course the ER docs will catheterize a patient and run IV’s and all that, but their primary motivation is caring for the patient, not gathering legal evidence. Could they run a drug screen? Sure. Are they going to? I don’t know - is that routine or something they’d have to ask for?
Then again, she might have arrived reeking of ethanol, along with any other associated odors. We don’t know.
TV reported today that Lynne Mishele, the owner of the home that was destroyed by this crash, now has a GoFundMe set up in her name. She lost all her possessions and all the equipment she used for her business. I’m presuming she has some sort of insurance but ask anyone whose been through this sort of disaster, insurance doesn’t cover everything. I’m glad she’s getting some help.
She is reportedly in stable condition today. That sounds promising for her recovery.
She will no doubt face other consequences.
[Moderating]
Given the short time delay between my post and this one, I’ll charitably interpret you as not having noticed my post before posting this. That said, even absent that, this post was unnecessarily hostile. @EDOK9Trainer , I am directing you to not return to this thread.
This isn’t unexpected. I’m surprised Reckless endangerment isn’t listed. She was filmed racing away at high speed in a residential neighborhood. Her speed made the collision with the house much worse.
Another actor that has issues with mental health and the law. Fortunately, it looks like no one was injured by his crimes. Obviously not directly related to Anne Heche’s problems but I found it interesting to compare.
No, doctors have to ask for it. But my point is that it’s literally a couple of mouse clicks to do so, there’s no extra work that would impede treatment. Legal evidence gathering is a different matter, specimens are gathered and handled differently, and likely would be deferred in a dire emergency.
Well, now I’m seeing reports that she is still in very critical condition. This morning the report I saw said stable condition.
Very strange.
IANAD, but as I understand it, “stable” means “she’s not going to die in the next few minutes”. That’s still consistent with “she needs a lot of special procedures in the next few days to have any chance of long-term survival, and those procedures won’t necessarily work”, which would still be well in the range of “critical condition”.
I think it could go either way.
Do you hang around with Jessica Fletcher?!
Never heard of her.
I do know burn victims can have a lot of complications. Infections, organ failures, pneumonia. Heche has a long,long recovery if she survives the next few weeks.
She was the main character in the TV show Murder, She Wrote, played by Angela Lansbury. The trope was all you had to do to get murdered was to be in her vicinity.
Hopefully Heche survives.
I was just being realistic based on how long she was in that burning car.