Abstract
James D. Hundertmark, Department of Psychiatry, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia:
Patients who overdose frequently take more than one medication. A recent fatal overdose in this State involving paroxetine and moclobemide prompted our coroner to recommend changes to the available drug information for moclobemide. There have been several reports of severe sequelae including seizures and dysrhythmias after overdoses involving ven-lafaxine, both alone and in combination with other medications [1–3].
Readers of Beerworth and Tiller's article [4] in the recent edition of the Journal could be excused for thinking that all is rosy with the newer anti-depressants. As time goes by, the case can be made for viewing these newer agents as not simply ‘better’ but, more correctly, just ‘different’. There are related medicolegal implications of taking such a broader viewpoint.