Call to curb laxatives

A CORONER has called for tighter controls on the sale of laxatives after the death of an Adelaide woman who was taking up to 800 tablets a day because of an eating disorder.

Claudia La Bella, 28, weighed just 35kg when she was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in June 2014 dangerously dehydrated and with severe abdominal pain.

In his findings yesterday, SA Coroner Mark Johns recommended that Dulcolax and similar laxatives should not be available for self-selection from pharmacy shelves or online stores.