Benoit Doc: 'Roid Rage an Unknown
Professional wrestler Chris Benoit had 10 times the normal level of testosterone in his blood when he killed his wife and 7-year-old son and committed suicide at their suburban Atlanta home last month. But that doesn’t prove that he did so during a ‘roid rage, a medical examiner says.
“This is a question that basically no one knows the answer to,” Dr. Kris Sperry said of the steroids issue, after the results of the medical examination of the bodies were made public, reports Associated Press.
“There is conflicting scientific data as to whether or not testosterone creates mental disorders or leads to outbursts of rage,” says Sperry. “There’s data that suggests it and other data that refute it.”
In addition to the anabolic steroid, which Benoit appeared to have injected shortly before his death, his body also contained a painkiller and an anti-anxiety medication, according to Sperry. Benoit’s wife’s body also contained an anti-anxiety medicine and “therapeutic” levels of painkillers, and their son seems to have been sedated before he was asphyxiated by his father.
Benoit’s personal physician and friend, Phil Astin, admittedly prescribed testosterone to Benoit at some point in the past, according to AP. He is currently charged with having improperly prescribed painkillers and other drugs to two patients unrelated to the Benoit family, and has pleaded not guilty.
