A Case of Accidental Veratrum californicum (California False Hellebore) Toxicity

Abstract

The Veratrum genus of plants contains multiple toxic alkaloid compounds, and ingestion of Veratrum species may result in clinically significant human illness. Although many cases of Veratrum ingestion have been reported in the Eastern United States and Europe, no case report of human toxicity from the most common California species, Veratrum californicum, exists in the literature. We report on the clinical course and treatment of a patient with a known Veratrum californicum ingestion. We discuss the identification of the Veratrum species and compare our case to other cases of Veratrum ingestions reported in the literature. We find that similar to ingestions of other Veratrum species, our patient became hypotensive and bradycardic, requiring fluid resuscitation. Similar to other reports, our patient responded to treatment with atropine and was able to safely discharge after a short hospital stay. Our case adds the first reported ingestion of Veratrum californicum to the literature of other Veratrum ingestions and suggests that this toxicity similarly responds to atropine and hemodynamic support.