GP quizzed over pills prescribed for Susan
Sleeping and anxiety medication list suicide risk, defence says
SUSAN Rohde’s medical practitioner, Dr Lize-Mare Steenkamp, came under fire for prescribing sleeping and anxiety pills, which listed suicidal ideation as a possible side-effect. Susan, the wife of property mogul Jason Rohde, died on July 24 last year. It was initially believed that she hanged herself on the bathroom door in their Spier Wine Estate Hotel room. But police investigations resulted in Rohde being charged with her murder.
Steenkamp had been seeing Susan since 2014, administering Botox and family medicine. Yesterday, the Western Cape High Court heard that Steenkamp had prescribed Stilnox and Urbanol to Susan in a consultation a month before her death.
“The patient said she was under a lot of stress and dealing with conflict. She was using rescue remedies for anxiety, but had heartburn and difficulty eating.
“She said she would go five days with two to three hours’ sleep at night. She said she was already seeing a psychiatrist,” Steenkamp said.
The court heard that Susan was given a one-pack prescription for Stilnox 12mg.
The pack had 28 tablets and should be used for short-term treatment.
An active ingredient for both Stilnox and Urbanol is benzodiazepine. Defence advocate Graham van der Spuy pointed out that one of the side-effects of benzodiazepine was suicide ideation.
“There is overwhelming scientific proof that the use of benzodiazepine can increase the risk of suicide ideation,” he said.
Steenkamp replied: “I knew the risk when I prescribed it to the patient. I informed the patient to keep me in the loop of how she reacts to the medicine and to come for a follow-up.”
Van der Spuy put it to the witness that the supply she had given Susan exceeded the short-term use bracket. He questioned why Steenkamp did not make clinical notes prior to prescribing the pills and also cast doubt on whether Susan was fully warned on the use of these medicines.
“It is a professional requirement to keep full notes, yet you have nothing about this in your results, nor affidavits.
“There is no mention of an informed process to warn specifically of the dangers of Stilnox, no follow-up mentioned in your clinical notes… Nothing!”
He told Steenkamp that the method she used to diagnose Susan was not scientifically informed, nor did it adhere to medical principles.
Steenkamp said Susan did not appear to be depressed nor have an anxiety disorder. She said it was momentary anxiety, as she had life stresses at that stage.
“It is only use of benzodiazepine with depression and anxiety that increase the risk of suicide. My experience of her was not that she was severely depressed with a risk of suicide,” she said.