OBJECTIVES To determine whether a serious paracetamol overdose in the medical television drama Casualty altered the incidence and nature of general hospital presentations for deliberate self poisoning. DESIGN Interrupted time series analysis of presentations for self poisoning at accident and emergency departments during three week periods before and after the broadcast. Questionnaire respons...

Paraquat and diquat are classified as bipyridyl compounds not only leads to acute organ damage, but also to a variety of complications. Patients with severe paraquat-induced poisoning may succumb to multiple organ failure involving the circulatory and respiratory systems. Deliberate self-poisoning with paraquat continues to be a major public health concern in many developing countries. At prese...

Acetonitrile (methyl cyanide) is a common industrial organic solvent but is a rare cause of poisoning. We report the first recorded UK case. Acetonitrile is slowly converted to cyanide, resulting in delayed toxicity. We describe a case of deliberate self-poisoning by a 39-year-old woman resulting in cyanide poisoning 11 hours later which was successfully treated by repeated boluses of sodium ni...

To share our experience of managing acute DSP patients, a cross sectional, observational study was conducted for one year. Patients with acute DSP, defined as "ingestion of a poison or excessive dose of a medicine for self-harm" were included. Patient demographics (gender, age, educational, and marital status etc), intention, substance used, and outcome were noted. Eighty patients (47 female, a...

In the UK, poisoning causes about 10% of acute hospital medical admissions. This usually involves self-administration of a prescribed or over-the-counter medicine or an illicit drug. Most patients have taken (usually ingested) more than one drug, and alcohol is the most commonly implicated second agent. As deliberate selfharm is a risk factor for further episodes of self-harm, about 20% of thes...