UCLH nurse died after taking fatal dose of hospital medication

By JOSIE HINTON

A NURSE at University College Hospital died after taking medication home to her Bloomsbury flat and injecting a fatal dose, an inquest heard.

Janine Abdul, 44, was found dead in her Huntley Street home last April after taking an overdose of Propofol, a medication commonly used to treat anesthesia. St Pancras Coroner's Court heard on Friday that Ms Abdul was going through a divorce at the time of her death. She had a history of depression and had attempted suicide three times in the past. 

The hearing was told she had also previously been sectioned following a split from a long-term boyfriend. In a statement read out to the court, Ms Abdul's best friend Lillian Blaxill described her as “severely depressed” in the weeks before she died. Ms Blaxill told police: “She doesn't do well when not in a relationship. She was separating from her husband of ten years and she was in a relationship with a doctor who was seeing other women. This made her sad.” 

The inquest heard that batch numbers on medication found in Ms Abdul's flat matched stocks at the hospital. She was found dead by her husband Shahid Abdul - they were in the process of getting a divorce – with a syringe lying next to her left leg and puncture marks above her left ankle. Deputy Coroner Sean McGovern said that as a critical outreach nurse she would have had access to the medication found in her flat and the equipment to administer it. 

Recording a verdict of suicide, he added: “She has taken drugs from the hospital brought them home and administered via her left ankle. I'm satisfied she would realise that was a lethal dose given her occupation."

A UCLH spokesman said after the hearing: “The medicines may have come from UCLH or another hospital. Other hospitals will have been issued with drugs of the same batch numbers. We have conducted a risk assessment on the safe and secure storage of drugs. Access to medicines is limited to appropriately trained and authorised health care professionals. There has to be a balance between security and the ability for appropriately qualified staff to access medicine to treat patients quickly in an emergency.”