Hypernatræmia Following a Saline Emetic

Fatal outcome from administration of a salt emetic

“…The case described by Ward (1963) was of a 74-year-old man who died from pulmonary oedema as a result of administration of a saline emetic after an overdose of perphenazine and imipramine. Laurence and Hopkins (1969) described a patient in whom the mode of death had been similar to that in the present instance. Their patient was a 35-yearold woman who had taken an overdose of thiori-Correspondence: Dr J. C. Roberts, Plymouth General Hospital, Plymouth, Devon.…”

Fatal voluntary salt intake resulting in the highest ever documented sodium plasma level in adults (255 mmol L−1): a disorder linked to female gender and psychiatric disorders

“…Three of the patients suffered of dementia [14], Down's syndrome [8] and Prader–Willi syndrome [9]. Four patients ingested excessive salt as part of a suicide attempt [15–18]. Seven patients (including our patient) were diagnosed of suffering of other psychiatric disorders [19–24].…”

“…Hypernatremia secondary to dehydration or to excessive saline administration is common in nursery‐home dwelling elderly individuals, but is extremely rare in young, healthy adults. In infants and young children, oral ingestion of excessive amounts of salt occurs either accidentally [1–5] or intentionally in abuse crimes [6, 7]. In hospitalized patients, hypernatraemia is usually secondary to erroneous intravenous administration of sodium.…”

A Systematic Review of Fatalities Related to Acute Ingestion of Salt. A Need for Warning Labels?

“…Thus, 27 manuscripts reporting fatality from ingesting dietary salt were obtained. There were 35 fatalities reported, 19 in adults [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ] and 16 in children [ 6 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. The fatalities were categorized by age ( Table 2 and Table 3 ).…”