Billy Mays' Family Questions Autopsy

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Aug 9th 2009 09:16AM

The family of TV pitchman Billy Mays said they were never aware that he used cocaine or other non-prescription drugs before his death and were considering whether to have an independent review of an official autopsy.

Mays' family questioned the finding of cocaine and criticized the medical examiner's officer for issuing the report. "We were totally unaware of any non-prescription drug usage and are actively considering an independent evaluation of the autopsy results," Mays' family said in a statement.

The Hillsborough County medical examiner's office released the results of its autopsy on Friday, finding that cocaine use had contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed the 50-year-old in June. He was discovered by his wife in bed at their Tampa condo on June 28.

Mays was a pop-culture fixture with his energetic commercials pitching gadgets and cleaning products like Orange Glo and OxiClean.

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Billy Mays, June 28: The TV pitchman died of a heart attack, though an autopsy report showed that cocaine use played a part in Mays' death.

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While heart disease was the primary cause of his death, the medical examiner listed cocaine as a "contributory cause of death." The office said Mays last used cocaine in the few days before his death but was not under the influence of the drug when he died.

Cocaine can raise the arterial blood pressure, directly cause thickening of the left wall of the ventricle and accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the medical examiner's office release said.

The reports also stated that Mays was taking hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol by prescription for hip pain, as well as anti-anxiety drugs alprazolam and diazepam.

In the statement, the family was "extremely disappointed" by the release of the information. They said the report "contains speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension, which only demonstrates how important it is to regularly monitor one's health."

Tags: billy mays, BillyMays, cocaine, death

Comments

(269)

Sunday 09 August

By Annee

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The coroner was mistaken to list cocaine as contributory. I suspect the cocaine evidence was in a hair sample since he was "not under the influence of cocaine" at the time of death. In claiming it to be contributory the coroner is making an educated guess, something I don't think belongs in an autopsy report.

By steve

Drug abuse is not hard to hide. when you are in the spotlight , and moving around like billy , was to do his job ,he is or the person is alone alot of the time ,. you are around alot of different people ,in strange places . his wife might of known what he was doing and maybe she dident. the report might be wrong or it might be right , but what iam thinking is it might change the report of he death, i am thinking his will might not have anything about drug abusse. and they are not going to pay up. you know the way insurance companys are , his wife might be screewed , but anyway the guy was a hell of a pitch man,

By kellnerc7

God only knows how many Autopsies the Coroner performs on any given week, most of which never gets released to the press. What's the criteria to select which ones go public?
Mays was not on trial for anything nor he was being investigated for any crimes. The man dies and, just like that his name gets dragged through the mud.
Something should be done about these loose-canon Coroners.

By Rok

They are all public information and all released to the public. The only thing loose is yer piehole

Monday 10 August

By Barbara

It isn't uncommon for someone using drugs to hide it from the family. To a point, I don't think that is difficult to do, but eventually it will come out.
No one wants to believe they have a loved one who is using drugs. NO one. I do believe the report from the medical examiner. I think there are probably rules of employment for him to NOT make money off of a report like that.

By richard

anyone w/heart disease that dies from a heart attack
and used coke cannot escape the conclusion
that coke was a contributing factor.

By TAR

I have had my own experience with a false positive on a tox screen. I began going to a pain management physcian and within that first week he did a urine test to determine what drugs I had in my system. When I was told that there was one drug in my system I was floored. I had never even heard of the drug and had never in my life taken it, but apparently I was a user of this drug. So there can be results that are incorrect I am proof of that.

By Steve

Who cares the guy was a crook. Probably did coke to ease his conscience. One of his scams took me for 150 bucks. Sorry to see ya go.

By LEO

I hated this guy. His voice was so loud and annoying and I always had to turn the volume down. No surprise if he was on something.

By Common Sense

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Common Sense: FACT, Mr. Mays is now deceased. The autopsy reports are always made public. The family is upset because these reports were made public. What ever the case may be the chemical cocaine was in his body, to what extent we don't know but there are residual elements there. If he used the drug cocaine sobeit. Why do we all sit here and judge after his death. It is what it is. He is not first nor will ever be the last to die as a result of this drug. Many people use drugs behind the scenes and keep it from their family members or even friends, I guess it's a personal thing. If he did, he did..........Let it rest.

By Smoothjazztampa

Sounds to me like Billy's Life and Health insurance company paid off the coroner big bucks for a falsified report so they don't have to pay the surviving family members a cent. I'm sure Billy had a HUGE insurance policy and maybe even more than one.. When the same people own the media and the coroner is "In bed" with them, it's hard to prove them wrong unless you hire a private lab to do the testing and then you won't be able to prove the results because the insurance companies have an advertising stake at the newspaper.. Or worse be part owner or large shareholder. Obviously, to do Mr Mays wrong like this, there is a reason for disgracing him and his family..

By Ree

Give me a break, he was on 5 other prescription drugs, needing a Dr's care to get and the family wants us to believe he died in part for untreated hypertension.......and I have some nice swamp land in AZ for ya too....

By msb

Who cares HOW he died? Just be thankful that he is dead and eventually his annoying voice will also die.

By Andy

Ye , and maybe someone will be glad when yu die .... yu need to think about what yu said !

By will

Sometimes the truth hurts

By rcsmith1982

Billy Mays' death is a terrible tragedy. What bothers me is the fact that either he was taking prescription painkillers on his own or he had doctors prescribing pain killers that should never be taken together. If you're taking oxycontin/oxycodone, you do NOT take hydrocodone or any other pain medication except tylenol -- no aspirin, no motrin, no advil or aleve. My daughter was warned about this when she had to move up from hydro to oxy. Oxycontin/oxycodone is nothing to fool around with. So why was he taking tramadol and hydro? I'd be looking at his doctors....

By cityman

He was a crackhead! Accept it and get over it. The man is dead.

By UncleD

I agree with the family...his findings should have been reviewed with the family before it was released to the public.

Well, it sounds to me like Billy TALKED THE TALK but didn't walk the walk. Isn't his latest PUSH for some Health Care Coverage that both HE AND HIS family use themselves?? Doesn't sound like he used his share of it!

By Dave

Anyone who is using cocaine after 30 years of age is subject to instant death. As a doctor once told me..using cocaine is like Russian roulette..you never know when it will stop your heart....especially true as you age.

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