Tragedy strikes as woman dies after accident involving electric blanket, here's what happened

A British woman has passed away after accidentally overdosing on prescribed pain medication while using an electric blanket, according to an inquest.

Elizabeth Rose, a 33-year-old artist, was discovered in her home in Margate, on England’s southeast coast. She was discharged only a day before from the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital.

Painkillers and electric blanket contributed to death

Rose had long suffered from a complex case of Crohn's disease, for which she had been prescribed heavy painkillers.

She was found with extremely high levels of opioids and double the legal driving limit of alcohol in her blood, and was wrapped in a hot electric blanket.

NHS pain specialist Dr Johanna Theron provided evidence at an inquest this week that it was this combination that caused her accidental death. She said:

We have got multiple factors at play here,

She was using a fentanyl patch that was releasing more than usual because of a nearby heat source; then there was the alcohol that would have increased the effects of that drug.

Dr Theron added:

As well as that, she had taken twice the prescribed amount of liquid oxycodone - that would have slowed down her breathing to the point of stopping.

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Dangers of combining painkillers and alcohol

The inquest heard that Rose often consumed over the prescribed amount of her medicine to manage her pain.

During her 10-day stay at the hospital, she would have taken the correct, prescribed amount of opioids and not drank any alcohol. So, it is thought that on the day of her death, her tolerance for both was probably lower than she had become used to.

Coroner Sarah Clarke ruled that the young woman died of an accidental overdose. In her concluding remarks, she said Rose may not have realised the impact of combining opioids and alcohol.

Sources used:

Kent Online: 'Margate artist dies in tragic electric blanket overdose'