Death of pensioner caused by rare reaction to medication

AN 84-YEAR-OLD woman died after suffering a rare reaction to a drug commonly used to treat an irregular heartbeat.

Freda Oulsnam was prescribed a medicine called Amiodarone following a heart valve replacement operation.

Normally there are few adverse side effects but in Mrs Oulsnam's case the drug severely damaged her liver and, despite being taken off the medication, she died.

At an inquest into her death, liver specialist Dr Andrew Austin said he was only aware of two instances in which the drug had caused a similar reaction.

He said: "In the last two years I could only find two reports of acute liver injury after taking Amiodarone."

He added that in both cases the patients had survived after being taken off the drug.

Derby Coroner's Court heard that up until August last year Mrs Oulsnam had been fit and active for her age.

But after she began suffering from shortness of breath she was examined by a cardiologist who decided surgery was the best option for her.

She underwent a successful valve replacement operation at Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, in January but began suffering an arrthymic heartbeat shortly afterwards and was prescribed Amiodarone.

After returning to her home in Newhaven Road, Chaddesden, she began feeling tired, lost her appetite and suffered frequent fits of vomiting.

She was taken off the medication and admitted to hospital on February 21, where she was diagnosed with jaundice and an excess of acid in the blood – a sign the liver is not functioning properly.

She died on February 27.

Pathologist David Green, who carried out the postmortem examination, said the cause of her death was acute hepatitis, most probably caused by the drug.

He said: "There are three main causes of hepatitis – ischemia, which is a reduction of blood supply to the liver, an infection or a reaction to a drug.

"By the process of elimination the most likely cause is the Amiodarone.

"This is a very rare phenomenon but it would seem to be the most likely cause in this case."

Derby and South Derbyshire coroner Dr Robert Hunter recorded the verdict as "death from a rare but recognised complication of Amiodarone treatment which in the circumstances was a necessary treatment".

He added: "It was very sad she had a reaction to this drug, but that reaction was not predictable."