Re: Oxycodone vs. Oxycontin
I've noticed that the public at large seems to only know the term "oxycontin". Likely because it was talked about so much in the media as a drug of abuse, pharmacies being robbed, etc. Plus I have encountered few who have even heard of hydrocodone, but they have heard of the brand name Vicodin.
Lortab and Vicodin are trade names for hydrocodone. While less strong than oxycodone, it still has the CNS depressant quality. The liquid form of a medication to be taken orally is called an "elixir". A tablet prescribed "P.O." means "per orum". A suppository is administered "P.R." meaning "per rectum".
As far as what happens at time of death, I would not recommend using what one sees in a movie to gain medical knowledge. The "deaths" we see in movies are a Hollywood fantasy. In real life death is not always a quiet passing where the ill or injured person says their last words and then their head slumps to the side.
If a patient has several CNS depressant type medications in their system, their normal reflexes are going to be depressed. Even though these medications are not in "toxic" levels, they are there and they are causing CNS depression. This is why the labels say "don't drive or operate machinery while taking".
I think MM would have administered the liquid medication first, because that would be the easiest. I do wonder how he got her to take the meds that were in tablet form. Maybe he just "ordered her" to take them. Maybe she didn't realize she was taking an Ambien due to being less than alert from him having already given her a huge dose of liquid hydrocodone?
I can see the scenario of him coming home and "being sweet" to her, bringing her breakfast with a large glass of orange juice or other liquid. He had to have been there in order for her to have told Alexis on the phone how he was treating her that morning. Wasn't he up and out early that morning? Made calls to people from his office?
He could have been back to the house more than once that morning.