Inquest finds woman died from ‘extremely rare’ reaction to drug
Mother of four, Audrey Duffy, aged 77, died in January last after suffering severe breakdown of muscle tissue as a result of the reaction to the drug Lipitor.
Dublin City Coroner’s Court also heard this type of adverse reaction is usually only found in between three and four people per 100,000 who use the drug for a year, a less than 0.01% chance.
Lipitor, a hugely popular drug prescribed around the world, is clinically proven to lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The coroner Dr Brian Farrell said he would be writing to the Irish Medicines Board regarding the case, stating that while the type of severe reaction to the drug suffered by Ms Duffy was “extremely rare”, both the health authorities and the public needed to be vigilant.
The inquest into the death of Ms Duffy, of 21 Balally Drive in Dundrum, heard that she died on January 18 last year, having been in and out of St Vincent’s Hospital in the preceding months.
Her GP, Dr Paul McCormick, said Ms Duffy had suffered from hypertension in the past and had also had lower back pain.
She was first referred to the A&E department at St Vincent’s on November 16, 2005. While discharged later, she was back in the hospital between November 23 and December 16, following “an episode of confusion” at home, in which she had suffered slurred speech and reduced mobility.
She had been prescribed a range of drugs, including Lipitor, but was back to the A&E department on January 15 with acute renal failure, high blood pressure and swollen ankles. She died three days later.
Ms Duffy’s three sons and daughter Claire Egan were in court. Ms Egan said that she and her mother had both expressed concerns regarding possible side-effects of the drug.
Brian Duffy, one of Ms Duffy’s sons, queried literature on a patient pamphlet that indicated that people over 70 years taking the drug should be carefully monitored and asked if follow-up care could have been carried out differently.
Pathologist Dr Susan Kennedy said the post- mortem examination on Ms Duffy showed evidence of chronic liver disease and heavy, or waterlogged lungs.
Summing up, Dr Farrell said it was a “tragic death” and that Ms Duffy had died due to multi-organ failure brought on by the adverse drug reaction, a “recognised rare complication”.
