Inquest rules on Royal Shrewsbury Hospital paracetamol overdose

A 68-year-old woman died from an overdose of paracetamol three weeks after being admitted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with a fractured hip, a coroner ruled this afternoon.

Margaret Cynthia Shearer, known as Cynthia, from Oswestry, was admitted in March after a fall.

She was diagnosed with a fractured hip but her condition deteriorated after she was prescribed an adult dose of paracetamol by junior doctor Hala Konona, an inquest in Wem was told.

In a narrative verdict, coroner Mr John Ellery today ruled that Mrs Shearer had died from a paracetamol overdose after having been give intravenous paracetamol at the standard adult dose and not at a dose that corresponded to her low weight.

"I am satisfied that action has been taken by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust to prevent this from happening again," he added.

The inquest previously heard Mrs Shearer weighed 36 kilos, five-and-a-half stone, but was given a dosage for someone 14 kilos over her weight.