Woman, 19, died after being given wrong dose of paracetamol

A JUNIOR doctor told a fatal accident inquiry yesterday that she gave a 19-year-old woman the wrong dose of painkiller.

Dr Shamita Das, who was working at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, told how she was asked to prescribe intravenous paracetamol for patient Danielle Welsh.

Ms Welsh - who suffered from a rare syndrome, was 4ft tall and weighed only five and a half stones - died six days later after being transferred to the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.

Dr Das told the inquiry it was the first time she had been asked to prescribe the drug and she gave an adult dose, not realising how light Ms Welsh was.

She said she did not know patients should be given a smaller dosage of intravenous paracetamol than the oral form of the drug. She said: "I never got that training. It is quite stressful for junior doctors covering eight wards. You have a limited time to finish jobs and then move on to another."

Dr Das said she had been working from 5pm to midnight on 18 June, 2008, and was the only doctor covering 200 patients over eight wards.

She told the inquiry she had been called and asked to prescribe intravenous paracetamol because Ms Welsh was unable to take it orally.

The inquiry heard that she never saw Ms Welsh or spoke to her and said the fact she weighed only five and a half stones had never been flagged up to her.

She said: "If I had seen what her weight was, I would have adjusted the dosage. It is impossible to see the patient because of constraints of time. I didn't think it was necessary to see her. It was just to change analgesics. There was nothing flagged up to me as being unusual."

Dr Das said that she did not check any medical guides to see what the correct dosages of intravenous paracetamol were.

The inquiry was told these guides had since been revised to include clearer guidelines to medical staff.

Greater Glasgow Health Board's updated version of the guide now includes the words "change to oral as soon as possible", along with a table giving the correct dosage for different weights.

The cause of Ms Welsh's death is alleged to have been liver failure, due to paracetamol toxicity.

The inquiry heard that Ms Welsh, from Glasgow, who had a congenital illness and had suffered meningitis as a child, had been admitted to hospital after taking unwell. She was undergoing tests to find out what was wrong with her.

Consultant Dr Susan Fraser told the inquiry she examined Ms Welsh on 18 June. She had been admitted to hospital the day before complaining of pain in her hips.

The inquiry, before Sheriff Andrew Cubie, continues.