A 44-year-old man opened his eyes in a psychiatric hospital with no idea how he had gotten there. According to his doctors, he had taken his zolpidem sleeping pill at bedtime, then hired a cab to the hospital, admitted himself, and cooperated with inpatient care until he regained awareness the following morning.
It was not a one-time event. He had three similar episodes, and in each one he woke up in a psychiatric hospital with no memory of being admitted. When his psychiatrists reviewed his past prescriptions, every episode lined up with a night he had taken zolpidem, the drug sold in the U.S. as Ambien and under several other brand names.
