A woman overdosed herself with paracetamol to help deal with her consistent ear infection and died, an inquest reveals.
Thirty-one-year-old Rebecca Jeffs was found dead in her partner's home in Bolton in Greater Manchester two days after she was released by the hospital. A pathologist's report cited that she suffered from a significant damage to her lungs and congested liver.
The inquest then revealed that Jeffs had been having problems with an infection in her right ear in October. The former health worker then ingested at least two paracetamol tablets every 2 hours in less than 24 hours. She clearly overdosed herself and was immediately brought to the hospital so doctors could reverse the drug effects and treat her ear infection.
According to Dr. Arun Ramachandran, the ENT specialist who oversaw her treatment in the hospital, Jeffs already had a long history of ear infection and had given her some antibiotics. He also added during the inquest that the woman was also clear that she wanted to have morphine since ibuprofen and paracetamol no longer worked.
After five days of being admitted, she was released by her doctor on October 7, citing there was no reason to keep her longer there. Two days after, she died.
Jeffs, nevertheless, had been admitted a couple of times previously due to overdosing. Aside from ibuprofen and paracetamol, she took at most 50 zoplicone tablet, a medication for insomnia. She also had a history of having abdominal pains and took too many paracetamol tablets, which eventually landed her in a hospital due to overdose sometime on July 2014. Based on the testimony of her mother, Elizabeth Carter, during the inquest her daughter was self-medicating from drugs she bought online.
According to the coroner Simon Jones who also testified in the inquest, some problems that might have led to her death should have begun after she was discharged. However, he was sure that she had overdosed from paracetamol.
