Coroner sin-bins painkiller after boy's death

By Claire O'Rourke
September 12 2002
 

One of the commonest pain relief drugs may be removed from supermarket shelves after a coroner's recommendations regarding the death of a teenage boy from an overdose.

The State Government will set up a panel of health experts to consider the current use and abuse of paracetamol and to set guidelines to prevent liver failure in children, as recommended yesterday by the coroner, Jan Stevenson.

The panel will also be asked to consider restricting the sale of paracetamol products, such as Panadol, to pharmacies.

About half of all paracetamol products are sold in shops other than pharmacies.

Wade Dunn was 13 when he died in hospital in March 2000 of end-stage liver failure after he was given 32 grams of paracetamol over 14 days. He was recovering from a hip operation.