Student death an accident

[Water Pony]

SMU student died accidentally from alcohol, drugs in January

08:13 AM CDT on Wednesday, March 24, 2010
By HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

A Southern Methodist University student's death in January was accidental and caused by a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs, the Dallas County medical examiner's office has ruled.

Joseph Hunter Green, who was found dead in his dorm room Jan. 22, had a mixture of alcohol and muscle-relaxing and painkilling drugs in his system, according to an autopsy report obtained Tuesday.

"You've got at least three different sedating agents that are all together, and that combination certainly can become a problem," said Kurt Kleinschmidt, a toxicologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He was not involved in the autopsy.

Green, a 21-year-old sophomore who went by the name Hunter, had just started the spring semester at SMU's main campus in University Park. He spent the previous semester at SMU's program in Taos, N.M., and before that, attended the University of Central Florida. He was the son of professional golfer Ken Green.

Hunter Green's sister, Brooke Baker, said: "Hunter was taking those two prescribed medications given to him due to a painful injury that occurred on the SMU-in-Taos campus. He had never been prescribed those medications before December."

Baker, speaking on behalf of Green's family, said, "Our hearts break every day we are without Hunter. We only want to honor his memory."

In January, a 911 caller reported that he thought Green may have committed suicide. That was not the case, as indicated by the autopsy report.