Cancer patient dies after drugs reaction
A 47-year-old mother, who was battling cancer, died when her various prescribed drugs reacted with one another causing her to stop breathing, an Inquest into her death heard.
Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, explained that the death was unintentional, but that taking those medications together carried an inherent risk.
“She died of respiratory depression, from a combination of prescribed drugs, but not an overdose… The combination of drugs interfered with her ability to breathe,” he said.
Sandra Hardwick, of Cuirt Uisce, Doughiska, was last seen alive by a friend on the afternoon of March 24 last.
Pamela Mackey told the inquiry that her friend was in good form, and had planned to get a prescription filled in her local pharmacy. That same evening, she was unable to get back into the apartment, and there was no response from her friend’s phone.
The next morning she went back again, and nothing seemed to have changed. She contacted Ms Hardwick’s GP in Salthill, and a resettlement worker from Cope homeless services, to see if they had heard from her.
She said that her friend had been a heroin addict in the past, but was on methadone and had been doing well. However, three weeks previously, she had been diagnosed with cancer and was facing a major operation in April. Her dose was increased.
Sylvia Cloche of Cope responded to Ms Mackey’s concerned call, and when she could not gain entry to the apartment, she contacted the Gardaí. They forced their way in, and found Ms Hardwick lying face down on the floor in the living room area, as if she had rolled off the couch. There was no evidence of foul play.
The Inquest heard that she had not filled a prescription since March 18, so there had been no extra drugs obtained in advance of her death.
A post mortem examination was carried out by Consultant pathologist, Dr Stephanie Curran, who stated that Ms Hardwick had had an extensive past medical history, including Type 2 diabetes, previous hepatitis infection, and an ovarian cyst.
She was found to have a high-grade malignant tumour in her uterus, and a secondary tumour in her lungs.
“She was seriously ill,” the Coroner explained, as he read the pathologist’s findings into the record.
“She would have had a very stormy passage ahead during the course of that treatment.”
He added that there were no anatomical findings to explain her death, but described the interpretation of the toxicology findings as “complex”.
He said that she was on pain killers, and drugs for anxiety, sleep, and depression. The latter was in the upper limit of the therapeutic range. A fifth drug was also to help with sleeping, it was also below the toxic range.
“That would not kill her on its own,” he said.
“But when drugs are taken together, it accelerates the effect of the others, and depresses the person’s respiration…. Cardiac arrest was almost certainly caused by a combination of several drugs.
“It would appear that it was not intentional, but she was obviously very upset and had to raise her methadone, and the combination of drugs interfered with her ability to breathe.”
He returned a verdict, in accordance with the medical evidence, that death was due to the synergistic effect of prescribed drugs, and the sarcoma of her uterus, with lung metastases, and misadventure.
Dr MacLoughlin offered his sincere sympathies to Ms Hardwick’s friends, to the staff at Cope, and to her children who were being cared for by a foster mother and their grandmother.