Tiger Woods’ Accident Linked to Prescription Drug Abuse?
Posted on December 9, 2009Various reports have suggested that Tiger Woods’ mysterious accident could be linked to prescription drug abuse. Florida police have not yet released a full report of the November 27th crash, but a new curious detail has emerged. Woods’ neighbor, Jarius Adams, reached the accident scene almost immediately and then called 911.
"At that point, he was, uh, he [Tiger Woods] was snoring," Adams told the police. "He was snoring?" asked the investigator. "He was actually snoring," Adams confirmed.
Gerald Posner writes for the Daily Beast that he learned from trauma doctors that Woods should have been hyper-alert because of the adrenaline rush naturally associated with an accident such as his.
One law enforcement officer familiar with the investigation told the Daily Beast that police on the scene suspected that Woods was disoriented and loopy because he had taken Ambien, a prescription sleeping pill. A person familiar with Woods’ medical treatment two years ago told Posner that Woods has used prescription sedatives, when injured, to help him sleep.
Despite this, the Florida Highway Patrol did not administer any drug or alcohol tests to Woods, telling the Orlando Sentinel that it did not have the “probable cause” for such tests.
But the incident raises questions about Woods and his pill habits. The suggestion of an Ambien link to the early-morning crash comes on the heels of reports that one of Woods’ alleged mistresses told friends that she and Woods liked to have “crazy” sex in an “Ambien haze.”
Meanwhile, a source familiar with Tiger’s medical treatment in the latter half of 2007 told Posner that Woods’ regular dosing of painkillers was “potentially a problem” during those six months because of the addictive nature of his medications. That coincides with Woods tearing his left knee ACL, a common athletic injury, in July 2007. Woods and his advisers decided against surgery then and instead he continued playing and winning on the PGA Tour.
Posner asked Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, about the golf star’s prescription drug history. His response came by email on Friday: “As any doctor would attest, patients are universally prescribed medication for bone fractures and following major orthopedic surgery. Tiger’s care has been managed with especially attentive observation by leading medical professionals, and others simply aren’t in a responsible position to make any assessments. Most importantly, the specifics of his medical care ought to be private, which is why unending Internet innuendo about his condition is so irresponsible and offensive. For amateurs to make speculative judgments about the quantity, propriety, or duration of a patient’s care is reprehensible.”
Posner notes that in some ways this answer sounded similar to part of the statement that was first issued under Woods’ name after the car accident: "This is a private matter, and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded, and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.”
