...but paracetamol could cause liver failure in the thin and frail
ELDERLY and frail patients could suffer life-threatening illness after being given paracetamol, a safety watchdog has warned, following the death of an 82-yearold woman prescribed the overthe-counter painkiller in hospital.
Investigators at the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch say hospital staff failed to spot that the woman, who was admitted after a fall in her kitchen, was too underweight to take the drug.
The watchdog, which investigates harm done to NHS patients, said daily doses of paracetamol could cause liver failure in severely underweight patients such as the elderly, and ultimately lead to death.
The report, published last week, follows two other cases of NHS patients with low body weight who died in 2016 after receiving paracetamol in hospital.
While the drug has few side effects for most people, one of its components can be potentially toxic to the liver.
Most people can filter out this toxic product, but people who are severely underweight often have impaired liver function. In these cases, large doses of paracetamol can severely damage the liver, causing it to fail.
In January 2020, the woman, identified only as Dora, was admitted to an unnamed hospital.
The investigators found that Dora was taking co-codamol – a prescription painkiller containing paracetamol – and was prescribed more paracetamol when she arrived at the hospital. However, staff did not weigh Dora for 12 days. When they did, they found she weighed just over six stone – nearly five stone lighter than the UK female average.
But Dora stayed on paracetamol for nearly two weeks more, until her condition deteriorated and doctors realised she was suffering organ failure. Paracetamol was withdrawn but she died, and an inquest concluded that paracetamol-induced liver failure was a cause in her death.
The watchdog concluded that in future, hospitals should consider weighing patients before offering them paracetamol, and patients who weigh less than 50kg – just under eight stone – should not receive daily doses.