Questions remain over drugs death

THE family of a woman who died of a drugs-related death still have questions they want answering.

An inquest in Heywood yesterday heard that Paula Wood (42) was found unconscious in her bed by her partner at their home in Raper Street, Oldham, on the morning of Monday August 15, 2016.

Ambulance and police arrived and CPR was administered but it was too late. The day before she died, she was said to have been on Facebook sharing cheerful messages and seemed her "normal, happy self".

Miss Wood suffered from ill health. She was born with a heart defect and had heart surgery in 2014 to have a mechanical valve fitted.

Furthermore, she started taking drugs and was put on a methadone programme by her doctor. Months before she died, Miss Wood claimed she was hearing voices that were telling her to take her own life. Her GP then gave her anti psychosis drugs, after which she did not expressed suicidal thoughts again, the inquest heard.

The initial cause of death was given as a multiple-drugs overdose of methadone and nitrazepam and a fatty liver, but toxicologist Julie Evans said the evidence did conclude an overdose.

Risk

A post mortem report found that Miss Wood had "a cocktail of drugs" inside her body - both prescribed and not - and said the level of methadone in her blood was not so high as to have been an overdose, but that these drugs all taken at once could have been fatal.

Ms Evans said: "She may have had modestly more than was prescribed. There is the evidence of the use of a cocktail of drugs before her death. There is a major risk that it would slow the breathing and respiration.

"Add all of that and it could be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"The combination of drugs toxicity could provide a potential explanation. We're not sure which one individual could have done it. It could have been all of them together."

She gave the cause of death as 1a, combined drugs toxicity and 2, a fatty liver.

Miss Wood's family still have questions as to where she had obtained the drugs that had not been prescribed to her, as the police were initially told that Miss Wood had taken a drug not prescribed to her.

This line of inquiry was not, for some reason, pursued by the police which, in hindsight, they admit they should have, the inquest heard.

Assistant Coroner Catherine McKenna said that while these were important questions, the inquest is limited as to how the deceased died and not about apportioning blame.

She was satisfied there was no evidence of self harm or suicide and accepted Ms Evans' verdict on the cause of death.

Ms McKenna said: "The toxicologist evidence shows Paula had a number of drugs in her system. The family have rightly, in my view, raised questions about where Paula obtained the medication that was not prescribed to her.

Limited

"I agree with the family that important questions should have been asked at the time of her death, that were not asked.

"While I think they're important it wouldn't have altered the outcome of my findings. This is a limited, fact-finding inquest.

"I have no doubt that Paula is sadly missed."