The mother of a woman who died after she was allegedly given an overdose of the antidote to acetaminophen by hospital staffers is suing health officials.
The woman, 20, went to Portage la Prairie’s hospital on Oct. 1, 2022, with nausea and abdominal pain after she took “an unknown amount” of acetaminophen — a common over-the-counter painkiller contained in drugs like Tylenol — in the previous 24 to 48 hours.
The woman died days later on Oct. 6, 2022, according to a lawsuit filed in Winnipeg’s Court of King’s Bench on Sept. 4 by her family, who live in nearby Keeshkeemaquah.
The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Chris Wullum of Winnipeg firm Tapper Cuddy LLP, names the Southern Health Authority, which operates the Portage District General Hospital, three doctors and two nurses involved in her care as defendants.
It is seeking damages for losses under the Fatal Accidents Act, as well as special damages, interest and court costs.
After the woman arrived, medical tests discovered she had an elevated level of acetaminophen in her system — 84 milligrams per litre, the claim says.
The woman was initially prescribed a dose of 60 milligrams per kilogram per hour of an antidote for the painkiller for the first four hours, then a maintenance dose of 6 mg/kg per hour for the next 16 hours, the lawsuit reads. That led to an initial improvement of the woman’s symptoms, as the level of acetaminophen in her blood lessened.
However, the lawsuit says, after another doctor took over care on the evening of Oct. 2, 2022, the antidote dose was upped to 100 mg/kg per hour, which the woman received for about 12 hours.
That alleged incorrect prescription amounted to the woman receiving about 66 grams of the antidote over a 12-hour period, when the therapeutic dose should have been around four grams — a 16-fold increase, the lawsuit says. Her care was then given to another doctor.
Early on Oct. 3, she became “increasingly confused, agitated, paranoid and disoriented,” the lawsuit reads. She was restrained and given lorazepam and midazolam — anti-anxiety medications — to calm her down, and her antidote dose was adjusted back to 6 mg/kg per hour.
A lab test showed her liver function had worsened and a CT scan showed fluid on her brain, the lawsuit alleges.
Later on Oct. 3, one of the doctors, who consulted poison control, was informed the woman had “significantly overdosed” on the antidote because of the incorrect dose, the claim says. Health-care workers stopped administering the antidote at the advice of poison control.
Her condition worsened, despite treatment for the fluid on her brain, before she was rushed to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg for further care in the afternoon of Oct. 3, the lawsuit alleges. She was declared brain dead on Oct. 5 and died the next day.
The lawsuit claims an autopsy found her death was caused by the antidote overdose, while the amount of acetaminophen found in her blood when she arrived at hospital was not enough to kill her. She had no underlying conditions that would have caused her death, the suit says.
The court papers accuse the doctors and nurses, as well as the health authority, of breaching their duty of care to the woman, alleging their actions were negligent.
The health authority and health-care workers have yet to respond to the lawsuit with statements of defence.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
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