NHS England has been told it must take action to raise awareness about the potentially fatal interaction between tramadol and warfarin, following the death of a patient.
Graham Danbury, assistant coroner for Hertfordshire, issued a prevention of future deaths report on 1 December 2023, after Susan Gladstone, from Hertfordshire, died on 8 January 2021 from a bleed in the brain.
An inquest, which ended on 20 November 2023, concluded that Gladstone “died as a result of a generally unknown interaction between warfarin and tramadol, which caused exceptional thinning of her blood”.
Gladstone was prescribed tramadol twice for lower back pain: on 20 December 2020 and 4 January 2021. According to the report, she had been taking the anticoagulation medication warfarin for “a number of years”.
The report continues: “There was nothing to warn the prescribing doctor of any possible interaction. I found on the balance of probabilities that an interaction between tramadol and warfarin had caused this dangerous, and in the event, fatal INR to develop.
“In my opinion, actions should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you, NHS England, have the power to take such action.”
Source: Pharmaceutical Journal, 13 December 2023
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