AP: Kennedy Blames Accident on Sleep Medicine

[DeepModem Mom]

Kennedy Blames Accident on Sleep Medicine
May 4, 10:29 PM (ET)
By ANDREW MIGA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness.

Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said, "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."

Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes in Congress and took "prescribed" amounts of Phenergan and Ambien, another prescribed drug that he occasionally takes to fall asleep.

"Some time around 2:45 a.m., I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote," his second statement said. "Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication."...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060505/D8HDBHI81.html

[Rex]

1. Doesn't matter what he says; he is a D so can be flayed by the MSM.

Er I mean 'liberl media'. :eyes:

[Radio_Guy]

52. This brings up an interesting question

If the Capitol Police gave Kennedy preferential treatment, doesn't that strengthen Cynthia McKinney's accusation that those same police officers are racist?

Just thinking out loud.

[Rex]

63. Very good point.

nt

[Blaq Dem]

55. It's a SPIN story to distract us from Rumsfeld and high gas prices

GOP does this all the time. They find some stupid story and throw up in the media to cover up what's really going on. I'm surprised no one mentioned anything about Prick Chaney's gay daughter interview on Prime Time that aired Thursday night.

[PSPS]

2. I wonder if this could have been "sleep driving" due to the Ambien?

A friend of mine did this and also got in a one-car crash (she curbed the car.) The cops just gave her a ride home too.

[Skink]

3. OK Chap..........

[electropop]

19. Actually, these days, it's normal to vote at 2:45 AM.

The pukes hold their secret sessions at that hour to ram through the biggest crimes.

[zann725]

37. Many years ago, I took Melatonin as I finished my nightshift (1:00 am).

Since I had only a five minute drive home, as I anticipated it would take AT LEAST a half hour to take effect. That night however, I fell asleep at the wheel (I don't even remember feeling drowsy, or drifting off). I totalled my car, and given the damage to the car, was darn lucky I was not killed.

Taught me a lesson. Since then, I take ALL medications at night (or on days I plan NOT to drive AT ALL.) I make a point of impressing this on my doctors, who often insist you to take medications during the day while "mobile" (despite most medications' "drowsy" warnings).

[anotherdrew]

39. entirely possible, this is just like what that stuff causes n/t

[peacetheonlyway]

4. FOLKS what is happening is this Dictatorship using capital cops

to start hauling folks away for no reason at all...

the INVESTIGATION of McKinney, give me a break , the woman did nothing wrong but try to go to work,

the INVESTIGATION of Kennedy, give me a break the man was disoriented on prescription medicine..

but CAPITOL cops are not like real cops.

they are beholding to a whole diff. management structure that ends up where? THE PREZNIT.

This is the beginning folks. they are targeting our most loyal and outspoken Democrats.

This is the beginning folks, the trains to auschwitz are being loaded up by the capitol cops...

let's be sure we understand exactly what day the cops started assailing our most respected senators and congress people...

[hughee99]

46. Hauling folks away?

They gave him a ride home.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

47. Umm...

This is the beginning folks, the trains to auschwitz are being loaded up by the capitol cops

::backs slowly away::

Yeah. That's, uhh... Yeah.

[Mike Daniels]

49. Oh please.....

First, if McKinney hadn't struck the officer she wouldn't be in the place she is right now and she deserves little to no sympathy for her current plight. That she got virtually no support from her fellow Democrats speaks volumes about her "importance." Incidentally, if she had been anyone other than a Congressperson she would have found herself on the floor with her hands cuffed behind her back within seconds of hitting the office and hauled off to lock-up.

Kennedy had an accident while driving a motor vehicle under the influence of medication. Damn right the cops had a responsibility to investigate. If it had been Joe Blow driving the car he'd probably have been charged with operating a vehicle while under the influence vs. getting a ride home from the cops. So much for being harrassed by the capitol police force.

Sheesh....

[okieinpain]

58. let me second that sheesh.

[brentspeak]

53. Michelle Malkin, is that you?

Manufacturing examples of DU "moonbattery"?

[superconnected]

59. I agree with you

the cops are run by the mayor who is a politician.

They are rulled by a political entity. People need to remember that. Everything you think they are supposed to do can be changed in a moment by the mayor.

[peacetheonlyway]

5. same capitol cops..

who held 9/24 peace activists in a bus for 12 hours with no water in the dead heat,
just because they could...

come on folks...

these keystone buttheads do what bush's henchmen tell them......

and if they can stick a knife in a dem's back rather than face their own war crimes.. good for them, give the media someone else to hound other than Rumsfeld stammering and looking but stupid in front of a 27 year CIA veteran Ray McGovern...

the problem is the capitol cops are our modern version of mindless nazi soldiers gleefully attacking folks for no reason at all.....

[meganmonkey]

41. Are you referring to the protest in DC when 400 got arrested at the WH

on 9/26 last fall?

If so, you don't have your facts straight, I was there.

Peace.

[peacetheonlyway]

60. so was I ..

and there was a bus full of people that were held on the bus without water for 12 hours...

you were obviously not on THAT Bus...

my fact are straight.. why don't you stop attacking the good guys.....

[meganmonkey]

62. First of all, it wasn't even the Capitol police that did those arrests

it was the DC Park police.

Second of all, anyone who requested water was given water. Some of the buses even received fast food for the people who had to wait all night. People who needed medication were provided with their property back so they could take it. Any health issues were handled immediately, I saw it with my own eyes. One of the men in my affinity group was on antibiotics and as soon as he mentioned it 2 cops started digging through the property bags to find what he needed.

Third, the reason it took so long to process us all was because the police had to all the paperwork by hand. After I finally got off the paddywagon (see, I didn't even get the cushy bus seats) I understood why it was taking so long. The park police are underpaid and underbudgeted just like most other federal gov't departments, and they didn't have computers or anything in the Anacostia facility. It was a testament to the success of the action, that there were 400 of us who crossed the line that day. There is no such thing as instant processing.

And finally, the cops were patient and pleasant (with a few exceptions, of course - 2 of the 10 or so cops I dealt with that day had bad attitudes - the rest were nice, some were clearly supportive, and all were professional).

From the mailing list of those who participated, to personal conversations with other folks I know who were there, I never heard complaints about how we were treated. Considering what we were protesting against- torture, innocent children getting limbs blown off, soldiers being physically and emotionally scarred for life, and so on, and so forth....several hours of discomfort is nothing to complain about. Anyone who is volunteering to get arrested as an act of protest should be well-prepared for treatment much worse than what we got that day - I think we were lucky. There was no tear gas, no clubs, no abuse - just some uncomfortable seats and some tight handcuffs.

The only negative review of the event I read was on John Conyers blog, which was odd since he wasn't even there. I wrote him a long letter about how great it would have been if he had been there with us (I love the man, mind you), but maybe he should have waited until the facts were in before spreading rumors, or until he had talked to someone who had been arrested rather than those who just watched and waited for us to get out.

I'm not trying to attack any 'good guys'. There are lots of reasons to criticize the Capitol Police for sure, I just disagree completely with the example you provided (especially since the Capitol police weren't even involved that day).

Peace.

[951-Riverside]

6. If we continue to defend the bad behavior of politicians we're screwed

If Bush got drunk and smacked into the white house gates you would be all over him (and rightfully so!) but his sheeple base would make up all kinds of excuses or blame the media for reporting it, if we continue on this track we're ALL going to lose big time.

[w4rma]

8. Defend what? He fell asleep at the wheel rushing to a 3AM vote.

And btw, you know why these votes take place in the middle of the night? It's because Repugs want as few people to watch them as possible.

[Mojorabbit]

10. From what I understand there was no 3 am vote

I can see the phenergan and I can see the ambien but I am wondering what other sleep aid he was taking. You don't normally mix two sleep aids.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. I thought the article linked by the OP explained it very well.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Decided to take a quick google grab,as in the very first thing I saw

having both Phenergan and Ambien in it, and found the following:

My wife is frequently prescribed phenergan (promethazine) for stomach problems. Through experimentation we have realized that Phenergan will potentiate nearly any drug with sedative properties(tranq, Op's, muscle relaxants), perhaps most pleasantly when mixed with opoids.

When mixed with benzo's, it tends to make it harder to resist sleep and can occasionally cause erratic behavior even beyond the normal disinhibition of sedation.

But the reason for my post is to explain what happens to me when I mix phenergan with Ambien or Sonata (zolpidem or zaleplon). I won't go into complete details, but I will say that in all my formative years as an avid LSD/mushroom user, never have I had such vivid hallucinations as the first night of this mix.
(snip/...)

http://www.sixthseal.com/2003/08/zopiclone_imovane_review.html

That posting was "Posted by: Krime at January 15, 2004 10:56 PM" so it's doubtful anyone put it up to provide cover for this Kennedy.

The original article didn't come close to the claim made by that poster. You're right.

[jukes]

24. phenergan (promethazine)

*IS* a powerful potentiator. it was one of the drugs found in the system of Chris Penn during the autopsy.


doctors prescribe these meds w/ absolute unconcern for side-effects in combination; big pharma must make their profits, afterall.

[Mojorabbit]

51. When I was working as a nurse

We gave it mixed with Demerol and other pain meds to potentiate them. Not unusual there but I have never given it with a sleep aid. But I haven't worked as a nurse in a long time. I hope he just took both and accidently got too high. Easy for that to happen.

[Mojorabbit]

48. You are right

For some reason I thought he was taking two sleep aids plus phenergan. What I get for posting when I am sleepy.

[Judi Lynn]

14. The phenergan was not taken as a sleep aid. It wouldn't be. n/t

[Sgent]

18. Maybe not intentionally

but a lot of doctors in this area prescribe phernegan as a sleep aid for certain situations -- it avoids a lot of issues with drugs like Ambien & Sonata.

IMHO, having taken multiple sleep drugs (all prescribed) at one time or another, Phenergan is second only to massive doses of Seroquel in its strenght. Both blow Ambien / Sonata out of the water.

[Snivi Yllom]

34. Rushing from a bar?

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=137995&format=text

Pat cites pills in car wreck
By Dave Wedge
Friday, May 5, 2006 - Updated: 01:05 AM EST

WASHINGTON -U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy insisted yesterday that he had consumed “no alcohol” before he slammed his Mustang convertible into a concrete barrier near his office, but a hostess at a popular Capitol Hill watering hole told the Herald she saw him drinking in the hours before the crash.

“He was drinking a little bit,” said the woman, who works at the Hawk & Dove and would not give her name.

Leaving his office late last night, Kennedy refused to say whether he’d been to the Hawk & Dove the night before.

Earlier in the evening, Kennedy issued a statement through his office blaming the accident and strange behavior surrounding it on prescription drugs.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Oh, please. Give us a break.

[rman]

17. You don't even know that it was "bad behavior"

You're jumping to conclusions.

[rodeodance]

20. When it comes to health problems and prescribed medications, I will

be careful not to judge what went on.

[jukes]

22. i believe i'll dismiss the comments

of a disruptor...

[0007]

45. Duh?

[Webster Green]

7. But, he didn't shoot anyone in the face did he?

The corporate, bush-licking media is all over this, but they ignored the Big Dick getting drunk and shooting his buddy in the face, and then getting special treatment from the cops.

[Erika]

9. Laura Bush killed a friend in a traffic accident

and both W and Cheney had multiple DUI's. Where's the story here?

[Judi Lynn]

11. FOX News Obviously Delighted Over Patrick Kennedy Car Accident

FOX News Obviously Delighted Over Patrick Kennedy Car Accident
Reported by Ellen - May 05, 2006

FOX News is so obsessed with crimes by Democrats and African-Americans (and so oblivious to crimes by Republicans) that you could almost see the glee on the faces of FOX News execs when they heard the news last night (5/4/06) that Rep. Patrick Kennedy had been involved in a car accident and, as Sean Hannity reported, “when Kennedy stepped out of the car, he was said to be staggering… and appeared to be intoxicated.” For 18 minutes, the Hannity & Colmes panel combed over every detail of the case, dropping a few slurs against Ted Kennedy as they went along. Republican strategist Rich Galen surely got some FOX bonus points for tying it into the Cynthia McKinney incident.

FOX’s favorite Democratic “strategist” Bob Beckel was on hand and, as usual, quickly gave all the reasons Democrats should agree with Republicans on this issue. In this case, Beckel said that his own experience with substance abuse made him suspect that the supposedly reformed Kennedy-the-younger had relapsed. “This is a disease, it’s serious, and this is not an issue that should be politicized,” Beckel said. But he never objected to that very politicization taking place in front of him.

“I’m very sensitive to that… I only want him to get better.” Hannity said, as “New Kennedy Scandal” appeared along the bottom of the screen. There wasn’t a close up so I couldn’t be sure but I suspect his nose grew right after he said that. “The issue here is whether or not as a lawmaker he’s being treated differently because of his position.” Oh, right.

Turning to Galen, “sensitive” Hannity said, “Maybe it’s unfair. But it reminds me of the fact that his father left a woman in a pond and went home. And didn’t tell anybody ‘Oh by the way, I just crashed off a bridge and a woman’s in the car at the bottom of a pond.’ And got away with it, for all intent and purposes, here.” The “non-politicizing” Hannity brought up Chappaquiddick later in the discussion, too.
(snip/...)

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/05/05/fox_news_obviously_delighted_over_patrick_kennedy_car_accident.php

[LibDemAlways]

28. I never watch FAUX because of "reporting"like

you've described. But, you just know that had one of *'s daughters staggered out of that car Hannity wouldn't discuss it at all, much less comment that her mother once killed a guy in a car accident and got away with it.

[truthisfreedom]

16. sounds good to me. i actually love the story.

it's sexy! and nobody got shot in the face and had a heart attack, and no sexy female ambassadors were involved!

[rodeodance]

21. i way you describe it makes it all seems rather dull.

[bleedingheart]

23. You know what I just hope he is okay and am glad no one is hurt

I think that with all the problems his mother suffers with alcoholism that he is not going to succumb to the same types of demons...

[yellowcanine]

25. I am not going to judge him but I won't defend him either. We don't have

enough information. I will say though, that his explanation - while possible - sounds a little far fetched. Also, there were reports this morning that a bar tender at a nearby watering hole was saying that Kennedy was in there and was drinking shortly before the incident. The police will presumabely check that out and I think we should let them do that before rushing to any conclusions one way or the other. Imagine what people would be saying here if this had been a Republican congressman. I don't think we should automatically assume the best just because Kennedy is a Democrat. People, including Democratic congressmen, do drink and drive.

[meisje]

26. What kind of idiot takes Ambien and drives?

I can't remember what happens after I take Ambien.

[underpants]

27. Apparently quite a few-sleep eating/sleep driving

Ambien, Sleep Aid Ad Campaigns Emphasize Safety

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2006/04/11/ambien_sleep_aid_ad_campaigns_e/index.php

The news that Ambien users could suffer from binge eating while sleeping and falling asleep while driving resulted in sinking sales for sleeping medication. Sanofi-Aventis responded two weeks later with its advertising campaign showcasing Ambien's safety, as rival medications geared up to advertise as well, writes Ad Age.




Ambien linked to sleepwalk-eating
http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/04/18/44455483d2eb5

[seriousstan]

29. Hostess at the Hawk and Dove saws he was drinking.

WASHINGTON -U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy insisted yesterday that he had consumed “no alcohol” before he slammed his Mustang convertible into a concrete barrier near his office, but a hostess at a popular Capitol Hill watering hole told the Herald she saw him drinking in the hours before the crash.

“He was drinking a little bit,” said the woman, who works at the Hawk & Dove and would not give her name.

Leaving his office late last night, Kennedy refused to say whether he’d been to the Hawk & Dove the night before.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=137995&format=text

[rfkrfk]

30. Hawk n Dove's website

http://www.hawkanddoveonline.com/

seems like a nice place

329 Pennsylvania SE

very close to the Capitol

[Freddie Stubbs]

50. Good food and reasonable prices

I spent many an evening at the Hawk & Dove when I lived in DC.

[Kingshakabobo]

31. Ruh-ro!!!

I figured if he was out boozing it wouldn't take long to finger him being in a bar. Next come the credit card receipts.

[hedgehog]

61. But what if he was sleep walking when he went into the bar?

If Ambien allows people to move around while disengaging judgment and memory, who knows what he did, least of all himself.

[Radio_Guy]

32. Now the freepers are claiming Pat Kennedy

Now the freepers are claiming Pat Kennedy was in a car accident a few weeks ago. These people are really reaching. :crazy:

[seriousstan]

33. From the Boston Herald......he hit a car in Rhode Island

Saturday, April 15, 2006:

Kennedy tries to turn into a CVS parking lot in Portsmouth, R.I.,, but turns into the vehicle in front of him instead.


http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=137974&format=

The early morning crash comes just a couple weeks after Kennedy wrecked another car in Portsmouth, R.I., on April 15. The congressman, driving a 2003 Crown Victoria, reportedly collided with a Nissan Maxima outside a drug store. No charges were filed.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14506626.htm

And the police report with Kennedy's handwritten description of the accident...

http://rope.wrko-am.fimc.net/bulger/042506_accident.pdf

[MADem]

35. Well, he WAS--he broadsided a car at a CVS pharmacy

in Portsmouth, RI. The accident report he filled out was illegible. He's not a poster child. He got in a fight with his girlfriend a while back and trashed a rented yacht. He's been to rehab for toot.

I think the reason the Cap Police are low-keying this is because he is one of their staunchest supporters. If they really wanted to be shirty with him, they'd release the dashcam footage.

He probably needs a repeat visit to rehab during the recess.

[seriousstan]

36. Actually, he was braodsided turning left into oncoming traffic.

He was hit in the passenger side by a car that had the right of way.

[Judi Lynn]

40. That so reminds me of when that sweet Republican Congressman

Bill Janklow was broadsided by a vehicle which had the right of way.



Thank God that dear Congressman wasn't harmed.

Witnesses from earlier days, who were lucky enough to have gotten out of his way, revealed that Bill Janklow had been speeding wildly for years, since the days he apparently believed he was King of South Dakota, while serving as the Governor.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

42. What's more disgusting is that a woman in Sioux Falls...

accidentally hit a pedestrian a few months later. The pedestrian was killed (a local foot doctor)
and she was sentenced to at least 5 years in jail. Janklow got 100 days. And he had a prior record of speeding.

Poor Bill, inded. :sarcasm: :mad:

We South Dakotans know all about "Wild Bill's" speeding days.
The SOB should be in jail for at least a dozen years.

[Judi Lynn]

43. Oh, jeez. I didn't hear about that one. No surprise, unfortunately.

One hundred days for wild, reckless driving, after DECADES of the same, nearly wiping out OTHER people who just barely escaped, is a kick in the pants to everyone.

I'll bet the Sioux Falls woman wasn't quite the hell raising driver Janklow was, either. He stands in a class of his own.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

44. I never read the article, but my mother has been paying attention...

she's even more disgusted by the double standard than I was.
Apparently, she'd turned right as the sun had come out and practically blinded her.
She had a pretty clean driving record, too. And she still got 5 years.

Remember, Janklow pretty much got a bunch of judges and attorneys their jobs in SoDak.
So they paid him off quite well. The judge in Janklow's case declared that Janklow's
prior record of being a speedy SOB could not be used in the trial. Which
means that his flagrant disregard for the law couldn't be used. That's part of the
reason he got 100 days.

[Up2Late]

38. Please see these these posts from previous thread for more drug clues!

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2264053&mesg_id=2264855>

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2264053&mesg_id=2264862>

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2264053&mesg_id=2264868>

[lynne]

54. Just read that Patrick Kennedy to hold 3:00 PM EST Press Conference / nt

[WhiteTara]

56. I wonder if he is taking Ambien

there have been a lot of reports about sleep eating and sleep driving because of this drug. Could be very interesting to see the pharma that pushes this stuff.

[Up2Late]

57. Yes and Phenergan too.

Plus I heard him say today something about pain killers and chronic depression.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2264053&mesg_id=2264855>

[TankLV]

64. Goss Possibly Caught-up in REPUKE Hooker Scandal!

He may be among one of the many REPUKES involved in Cunninghams call girl scandal!

I could care less about a PRIVATE matter.

[zann725]

65. Seems the sleep medicine, or other gastro-intestinal "relief" meds

were NOT the really the problem at 2:00 a.m. As apparently he was already in bed and asleep when these substances were taken. Seems the problem is NOT "addiction" to drugs, it seems instead his work-a-holic nature that woke him up in the middle of the night("sleep-driving") back to work. Given the "Kennedy" family STRONG work-ethic, working all hours of the day and night is NOT unusual. Clearly the MSM would like to make Kennedy "addiction" the issue. Since he wrecked middle of the night, clearly he's been attorney-advised...for the leniency of the situation...to submit himself for "adicted"-to-pain issues. Sleep medicine is hardly a serious addiction, OR is it a potent "pain" med. Gastro-intestinal problems CAN cause extreme discomfort, which can be "calmed" with medicines like Zel-norm. Neither of these merit an "intervention," it would seem.

The work-a-holic Kennedy nature seems more a "private" analysis issue, then "drug addiction" intervention.

MSM is making far too much of this. Having two uncles killed when he was young, coming from a divorced family, with an alcoholic mother, no doubt traumatized this seemingly decent, hard-working Congressman.

In short...MSM, focus your attention at REAL "world" issues...like Iran, and Nukes...pleeeeese. Did you NOT listen (and LEARN) from Stephen Colbert?