It's important to know medically induced coma is almost exclusively used for folk with established BRAIN INJURY.
And brain injury of this sort is typically the result of TWO broad insults, oxygen deprivation and trauma.
Both of these insults result in varying degrees of swelling which is poorly tolerated bc the brain is enclosed within the cranial vault, with the net effect being reduced blood flow.
Medical comas are thought to be useful in select folk bc it SLOWS metabolic demand, and allows more time for healing.
DRUG OVERDOSE is NOT a reason for a medical coma per se,
However anoxic injury is a final common pathway of many medically induced coma patients bc "overdose" of certain CNS depressant drugs can overwhelm a patients ability TO BREATHE.
Many OD patients often require active measures such as intubation and the use of paralytic drugs and/or sedative to control their "combativeness" pending clearance of the responsible drug -------
While another subset of patients have clinical features of BRAIN INJURY bc they were "found down" unresponsive for an unknown period of time AND are said to be placed in a medical coma USING the SAME DRUGS -----
The difference generally lies in the duration of, and rationale for, "active measures", NONE of which we or the media are privy to!
Time well tell.
JIM
