Drug overdose vs. pre-existing health problems: Physicians disagree
According to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, actress Brittany Murphy’s cause of death was pneumonia and her death was ruled accidental. Her family stated that she had flu-like symptoms and that she was taking prescription medication. The combination of her health condition, anemia and prescription drugs played a role in Brittany’s death.
Rumors spread about the star’s death being related to some kind of prescription medication abuse or that maybe she was medicated by someone. Multiple headlines stated that she was killed by a prescription drug as Michael Jackson was (Jackson’s cause of death was acute propofol intoxication). Click here for the latest news on Jackson’s death investigation.
My eye was caught by a similar story, but with a different outcome.
A mother was found guilty of second-degree murder for killing her daughter with a drug overdose. The 4-year-old girl died in 2006 after her mother dispensed lethal amounts of drugs. The girl was on 3 medications before her death.
On behalf of the Prosecution, two Doctors testified that Rebecca died of a lethal amount of clonidine. Another witness said that both the pneumonia and toxic levels of sedating drugs acted together to kill the child.
On behalf of the Defense, a former chief medical examiner testifying as a private consultant testified that the girl died of a powerful necrotizing pneumonia which can become very severe very quickly. When questioned by the prosecution, the witness acknowledged that the girl reported clonidine levels of 12 nanograms p/ml (the therapeutic level of clodine is .5 to 4.5 nanograms p/ml). However, he insisted that measuring clonidine levels at death was unreliable in her case, and he believes her level was not life-threatening. A forensic toxicologist testified about the method used to get a clonidine blood sample pointing out that a “blind needle stick’’ was used instead of a more careful method that requires multistep incisions from the leg. Click here and here for more details on this case.
Both cases seem to have something in common: a prescription drug taken in excess which probably exacerbated a pre-existing health problem. But not only prescription drugs can be dangerous if taken in excessive amounts, herbal medicines can have fatal consequences. A forensic pathologist from the University of Adelaide launched a worldwide warning of the potential lethal dangers of herbal medicines. More challenges for any forensic toxicologist! Press here to read more.