Painkiller used in suicide

Press, 8 November 1980, Page 8

Painkiller used in suicide

NZPA-Reuter Londor The suicide of Lady Barnett, who took an overdose ol Distalgesic, is likely to renew the controversy suri rounding Britain’s mos! I widely-prescribed pain-killer. ! There have been repeated warnings by doctors and ‘coroners that even a small ioverdose of the drug, especially in combination with alcohol, can cause loss of , consciousness and death heifer medical help arrives. I Figures from the Office of (Population Censuses and i Surveys confirm that Disitalgesic is involved in several accidental deaths and suicides in Britain each year. One Coroner warned last year against exceeding the prescribed dose to the slightest degree. He said the diference between a therapeutic and a lethal dose was very small. Another Coroner has said that Distalgesic should become a controlled drug, like heroin. He has reported that of 26 deaths in the Birmingham area caused by an overdose of the pain-killer, some were suicides, but many more were meant to be no more than a plea for help by people who did not really want to die. But the drug works so quickly that it leaves very little time for the plea to be heard.

n Edinburgh doctors have i- estimated that a patient who >f has had an overdose may o Have only 45 minutes before r- brain damage or death it occurs. The Committee on Safety dlof Medicines is keeping a d i close watch on the drug, but 11 has ruled out a ban. ■- It believes Distalgesic is h a useful drug and says that if it is only available on pre- !- scription. Lady Bamett killed herself f with a huge drugs overdose d after her “traumatic” court ;- appearance for shoplifting, a -‘Coroner ruled yesterday. ’ d| A Home Office patholog- . I ist, Dr Michael Ossleton, 11 said he estimated that Lady ei Bamett had taken between -120 and 26 Distalgesic tablets [just before her death. -! It was a “very substantial” overdose, he said. I About 10 to 12 tablets 11 would have been fatal. He -[found no trace of alcohol in bi her body. 1 Meanwhile, the British 51 police have asked underi takers to eliminate addresses j and dates and times of ser-I s vices from funeral notices in » a bid to reduce thefts from 1 j homes whose owners are' : attending services. i The police crack-down on thieves who study death, ) notices in newspapers coin-: Heides with the theft of! >:$12,000 worth of silver from' i Lady Barnett’s home. i