A 41-year-old man with schizoaffective disorder, intellectual disability and sexual offending history died from atropine toxicity after ingesting 6-8ml of atropine liquid prescribed for hyper-salivation. He had been discharged from psychiatric hospital on a community treatment order with 17-hour daily carer support. The deceased self-administered medications including atropine from a soft plastic bottle. Critical deficiencies included: lack of awareness among clinical staff that atropine was potentially lethal at high doses; failure to communicate medication supervision responsibilities to carers in writing; provision of atropine in an easily-squeezable container; and absence of safety warnings about overdose risk. The death was accidental, likely resulting from impulsive consumption without understanding toxicity risk. The coroner found multiple system failures in the discharge planning and community care coordination, despite acknowledging the substantial effort invested in the deceased's care.
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lack of awareness among clinical staff that atropine was potentially lethal
failure to provide written care plan to carers regarding medication supervision
failure to communicate medication supervision responsibilities to support workers
provision of atropine in a soft squeezable plastic container
absence of warnings about overdose risk on medication container
off-label use of atropine for hyper-salivation without safety protocols
assumption that deceased could safely self-administer atropine after 6 months use
inadequate risk assessment during discharge planning
poor communication between multi-agency discharge planning group and community carers
Coroner's recommendations
Healthcare providers should review the oral use of atropine and the provision of atropine to patients to self-administer
Clear warnings of the danger of toxicity from overdosing orally ingested atropine should be placed on atropine containers and conveyed to carers and patients
Atropine for oral use should not be provided or stored in soft, squeezable containers
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