Coronial
WAcommunity

Inquest into the Death of Radwan KANAWATI

Deceased

Radwan KANAWATI

Demographics

41y, male

Coroner

Coroner King

Date of death

2014-10-17

Cause of death

atropine toxicity

AI-generated summary

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.

AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes. Report an inaccuracy.

Specialties

psychiatry

Error types

communicationsystemdelay

Drugs involved

atropinechlorpromazinezuclopenthixolcyproteronesodium valproateclonazepammetformininsulin

Clinical conditions

schizoaffective disorderbipolar affective disorderchronic schizophreniaintellectual disabilityhyper-salivationinsulin-dependent diabetes mellitusatropine toxicity

Contributing factors

  • 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

  1. Healthcare providers should review the oral use of atropine and the provision of atropine to patients to self-administer
  2. Clear warnings of the danger of toxicity from overdosing orally ingested atropine should be placed on atropine containers and conveyed to carers and patients
  3. Atropine for oral use should not be provided or stored in soft, squeezable containers
Full text

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