A rigger was severely injured on the job while constructing a launch site on the Mississippi River. He was struck by a hook attached to a crane on a barge that was on the river by the launch site. He suffered an orbital fracture to his eye and a displaced cervical disk, both of which injuries required surgery. After an initial surgery on his back, he was told that he would need two further surgeries to alleviate the pain he was suffering. While waiting for that further surgery, he was prescribed oxycodone, fentanyl and tramadol to alleviate his pain. After the initial prescriptions ran out, the rigger was still experiencing an unacceptable level of pain. His mother tried to get an appointment with a doctor to renew the prescriptions, without success. A day later, she returned home to find him unconscious. He had taken an overdose of fentanyl, which he had purchased on the street, mixed with xylazine, a horse tranquiliser. He died; the autopsy revealed that his blood contained more than six times what is considered to be a lethal dose of fentanyl.