A young student died as a result of swallowing 20

A young student died as a result of swallowing 20 Paracetamol
tablets following an all night party.

Helen Mulligan, 22, was living and studying at Hextable’s
Kent College for Careers at the time of the tragedy, an inquest
was told.

Southwark coroner Sir Montague Levine said there had been cases
of death from taking as little as 16 of the tablets – which
he described as a ‘sinister’ drug, although it was safe if
taken in the stated dose.

Pathologist Prof.

William Whimster agreed, saying Paracetamol
in excess destroyed liver cells and could not be ‘washed out’ of
the system, unlike Aspirin.

He said in Miss Mulligan’s case the fact that she had been
drinking, and her liver was not used to alcohol, might have
‘tipped the scales’ against her.

The inquest was told that no one knew how much, or how little,
she had drunk at the party.

After taking the overdose at 2pm on October 29 last year Miss
Mulligan went to her GP and told him.

He sent her to Queen Mary’s
Hospital, Sidcup.

There she was seen at 7pm by Dr Martin Jarvis a junior doctor
in the Accident and Emergency Dept.

First he carried out a ‘battery’ of tests, including a blood test
– which showed no abnormality.

In his clinical opinion, based upon the tests and his examination
of her, he did not think she was in danger.

He said for the purpose of the accuracy of the blood test, he
believed her when she told him the overdose had been at 2pm.

After she left the hospital he routinely telephoned a duty
psychiatrist for follow-up counselling and arranged for her GP
to be written to.

He said her condition had improved while at the hospital and she
fell short of the line at which the antidote Parvelex should
have been administered.

Sir Montague said 20 tablets of Paracetamol might kill one person
while 40 another person.

‘With this wide variation does this mean that everybody taking
20 tablets should be kept in by a hospital casualty officer?’ he asked
Prof.

Whimster.

The professor replied: ‘That is an extremely difficult
problem upon which each patient has to be judged on his or her
merits.

‘
He added that it also had to be taken into account that the
antidote had to be administered through a vein over a 20 hour
period and the drug itself carried its own side effects and risks.

Calculations showed Miss Mulligan was ‘very well below’ the
line at which the antidote should have been given, he said.

After discharge from hospital, she was taken back to her college
room by fellow student Patricia Doughty who told the inquest she
was ‘shocked’ that her friend had been sent home.

She said she had asked Helen, who suffered from very painful
periods, why she had taken 20 tablets.

She said she replied: ‘I
don’t want to talk about it yet.

‘
Ms Doughty said later that night she called out the GP
when she got worse.

Ms Doughty then drove her to Joyce Green Hospital in Dartford
which later transferred her to the specialist liver unit at London’s
Kings College Hospital.

Sadly, she died there on November 2 of ‘massive liver death.

‘
Sir Montague, in his summing up, said there was no evidence she
wanted to kill herself.

‘It will always be a mystery why she took
20 tablets.

‘
He added: ‘I have no criticism whatever of Dr.

Jarvis, who
followed all the protocols laid down.

‘
But he said the Queen Mary Hospital should review its procedures
on ‘follow up’ after discharging overdose patients.

‘Dr.

Jarvis telephoned the duty psychiatrist at Bexley Hospital.

But when would that be in the pipeline? It might have been better
to use the telephone and get in touch with the GP.

‘There is no reason to believe it would have made any difference
in this case – but nevertheless it is a factor.

‘
He recorded an open verdict on BA graduate Miss Mulligan, whose
family home was in Co.

Durham, and who was to have worked as a
careers officer.

ENDS