A grandmother died from liver failure after an adverse reaction to a drug only banned from the Irish market last week, an inquest ruled today.
Sheila Gunn (69) died less than seven months after being prescribed Aulin, which contains Nimesulide. The medication was ordered off the shelves by the Irish Medicines Board 10 days ago.
Three other people are believed to have died from liver failure after taking the drug, with six others needing liver transplants.
Mrs Gunn, from Donaghmede, north Dublin - who was not listed among those victims - died on December 9th, 2005.
Her daughter Marcia O'Hara welcomed the ruling by Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell, adding that she hoped her mother's death would prevent another person from losing their life to the drug.
The inquest heard Mrs Gunn was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in July 2003 in Dublin's Mater Hospital.
She was first prescribed the maximum recommended dose of Aulin - 100mgs twice a day - by her GP on May 19th, 2005, and had collected six repeat prescriptions.
However, on November 1st, 2005, the she attended the Mater hospital where she underwent a routine blood test that showed significant liver function abnormalities; it took 17 days for the lab to return the results to the clinic.
Ms Gunn was later moved to Beaumont Hospital where she was diagnosed as suffering from an adverse reaction from Aulin. The inquest was told her reaction was random and not dose related.
On December 4th, Mrs Gunn was transferred to the intensive care unit where she died five days later.
Recording a verdict of misadventure, Dr Farrell ruled that Mrs Gunn died of acute liver failure due to adverse drug reaction to the drug Nimesulide, taken as Aulin.