A 25 year woman died after taking a weight loss pill, which was prescribed by one doctor as "rat poison."
Rachael Cook from Worthing, West Sussex has been suffering with fertility problem for months. She has been trying to get pregnant with her boyfriend and she was so desperate to have a child that she even bought dinitrophenol (DNP) online after being told that she needed to lost weight to conceive. But things turned to worst as the pill led to her death.
Ms Cook suffered from cardiac arrest that led to her death, three days after her birthday. West Sussex Coroner's Court heard that Racheal took the substance as she feared she had eaten too much on her birthday, Mail Online reported.
During the inquest, Rachael's partner Matt Watts said that before her death, she was exercising regularly, taking daily laxatives and just limit her daily food consumption to 300 calories. He also said that she even dropped "six-and-a-half stone." He also believed that Rachel was prompted to take the substance after reading the story of Eloise Parry, a woman who died after overdosing on the pill in April.
"Someone of sound mind would realise that [taking DNP] is fatal, someone who isn't is going to look at it as a potential way to lose weight," Matt added.
Rachel's mother, Julie said that the whole family went out to celebrate her birthday in May. Julie said that she knows that her daughter took DNP as she feared she would gain weight and won't be able to have a child.
Dr Ryck Albertyn, an anaesthetist based at Worthing Hospital said that Rachel's death was unexpected and described the situation "panicky." The doctor said that "DNP is an awful drug," taking it is just like taking a "rat poison."
Dr Jackie Gordon, a psychiatrist based at Worthing Hospital said she met Ms Cook before she passed away. She said, "The obsessional thinking around eating is very powerful and I felt she had that about her," but it doesn't cross to her mind that Rachel would take such substance.
The hearing found that Rachel "died of fatal Di-nitrophenol toxicity and ruled that her death was an 'accidental consequence' of taking DNP in relation to her eating disorder." The court also noted that there has been 24 cases of DNP toxicity since 2007.
