Inquest into the Death of Leighton Michael WOOD
Deceased
Leighton Michael WOOD
Demographics
44y, male
Date of death
2023-11-18
Finding date
2025-06-24
Cause of death
bronchopneumonia in the setting of combined drug effect
AI-generated summary
Leighton Wood, 44, died from bronchopneumonia in the setting of combined drug effect. He had schizoaffective disorder, anti-social personality disorder, and chronic polysubstance use disorder (alcohol, methylamphetamine, cannabis). He was appropriately managed on a Community Treatment Order with fortnightly depot antipsychotic injections, regular case management, and psychiatric review. The coroner found his care was of good standard despite challenging behaviour. He likely accessed opioid medication (tapentadol) without permission, and toxicology showed therapeutic levels of multiple medications including pregabalin above therapeutic range. Sedative medications combined with opioids and pregabalin (which lowers fatal opioid toxicity threshold) created risk for loss of consciousness and aspiration pneumonia. The coroner found no preventability issues and praised his treating team's compassionate care despite Leighton's aggression and non-compliance.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- polysubstance use (alcohol, methylamphetamine, cannabis)
- multiple sedative medications taken together (chlorpromazine, diazepam, olanzapine, zuclopenthixol)
- opioid medication (tapentadol) combined with pregabalin above therapeutic range
- pregabalin lowering threshold for fatal opioid toxicity
- obesity
- obstructive sleep apnoea (CPAP non-compliance)
- enlarged heart (cardiomegaly)
- loss of consciousness leading to aspiration risk
- lack of insight into mental illness and treatment non-compliance
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