Conaway in Coma, Drug Questions Unanswered

Actor Jeff Conaway remains in critical condition 12 days after entering a hospital in Encino, California. The Celebrity Rehab star has been unconscious after reportedly binging on pills and suffering an infection due to pneumonia. At the time, a spokesperson said Conaway might have overdosed on pain pills. We honestly have no intention of making light of this tragic affair, but the semantic dance around the question of drugs and overdose has become very finely sliced as the days have gone by.

Access Hollywood reported on a series of tweets from Dr. Drew Pinsky of Celebrity Rehab that seemed to deny the account of a drug overdose. “Just visited Jeff Conaway,” Pinsky wrote in a tweet. “He is stable & looks like he will recover from his pneumonia. Not an OD like press is alleging & certainly not dead.”

Pinsky later added that Conaway is “in an induced coma” on a “Propafol drip.” He added: “Pneumonia with sepsis. No evidence of intentional OD.”

Today, CNN reported that Conaway’s chances looked "increasingly grim" as the blood infection reasserted itself. “Initial reports that he suffered a drug overdose were inaccurate,” CNN reported. “However, his use of drugs caused him not to realize how ill he was, keeping him from getting treatment until it was almost too late, the source said.”

Let’s see if we have this straight. Conaway is hovering at death’s door due to an infection caused by the pneumonia for which he did not seek medical attention as a result of the addictive drugs he was taking for back pain. Does that logic feel kind of tortured to you? We can’t help getting the feeling that Conaway’s spokesperson, and Dr. Drew, would both like the public to see this case as anything but drug-related. And there are probably solid reasons for this. With Conaway and his former girlfriend deeply entangled in legal proceedings involving various drug allegations, we suspect that it will be a presiding judge, rather than a Talmudic scholar, who does the ultimate deciding on this issue.