Teenage bodybuilder Matthew Dear died on April 20, 2009 reportedly from an overdose of anabolic steroids. The parents of Matthew Dear were the first to attribute their son’s death to anabolic steroids. The news of Matthew Dear’s “steroid death” was initially reported by “The Daily Mirror”, a British tabloid but was soon picked up and legitimized by mainstream UK media outlets such as BBC News, the Daily Mail, and the Sunday Times. Could the steroid-attributed death of Matt Dear spread steroid hysteria throughout the United Kingdom much like the death of Taylor Hooton affected the steroid discussion in the United States?
The assertions that anabolic steroids were responsible for causing enlarged pupils, blindness, intoxication, severe abdominal pains, convulsions, brain swelling and kidney failure are pretty outrageous. These side effects are not medically substantiated adverse effects of anabolic steroids. Matthew Dear’s doctor even told the parents that he never witness any such reaction to anabolic steroids. The parents of Matthew Dear nonethless felt compelled to blame anabolic steroids. Read more
Maricopa County Medical Examiner Vladimir Shvarts, M.D. has added anabolic steroid intoxication as a contributing factor in an accidental fatal drug overdose. The cause of death for Aaron Michael Achley was originally attributed to an accidental overdose of the prescription drugs Xanax (alprazolam) and Oxycontin (oxycodone) in addition to the recreational drug Cocaine.
The family of Aaron Achley, ABC15 Investigative Reporter Josh Berstein and Arizona state investigators pressured the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner to change the official cause of death to include steroids. The medical examiner repeatedly refused to conduct additional testing for steroids. However, the medical examiner apparently relented once Doreen Achley, the victim’s mother, paid to have tissue samples tested by an independent lab (”Autopsy amended to include anabolic steroids,” October 24).
The amended “pathological diagnoses” on Aaron Achley’s autopsy identified the drugs responsible for the accidental fatal “Combined drug intoxication.” This time anabolic steroids (allegedly testosterone obtained from Revolution Medical Center) were a contributing factor to the death.
