Tom Petty died of an accidental drug overdose due to a variety of medications he was taking.
The L.A. County Coroner's report says a number of Tom's organs failed due to "mixed drug toxicity" that brought on his cardiac arrest. He was on several pain meds for his fractured hip, including oxycodone, Xanax, Celexa and two types of Fentanyl -- one of which came in a patch. That's the drug that was linked to the 2016 death of Prince.
Petty's family issued a statement that says, "Despite this painful injury he insisted on keeping his commitment to his fans and he toured for 53 dates with a fractured hip and, as he did, it worsened to a more serious injury. On the day he died he was informed his hip had graduated to a full on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his over use of medication."
It continues, "We knew before the report was shared with us that he was prescribed various pain medications for a multitude of issues including Fentanyl patches, and we feel confident that this was, as the coroner found, an unfortunate accident. As a family we recognize this report may spark a further discussion on the opioid crisis and we feel that it is a healthy and necessary discussion, and we hope in some way this report can save lives. Many people who overdose begin with a legitimate injury or simply do not understand the potency and deadly nature of these medications."
It concludes, "Thank you also for respecting the memory of a man who was truly great during his time on this planet both publicly and privately. We would be grateful if you could respect the privacy of the entire Heartbreaker family during this difficult time."