Notable Cases
The most widely recognized example of serotonin syndrome was the death of Libby Zion in 1984. Libby was a freshman at Bennington College at her death on March 5, 1984, at age 18. She died within 8 hours of her emergency admission to the New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center. She had an ongoing history of depression, and came to the Manhattan hospital on the evening of March 4, 1984, with a fever, agitation and "strange jerking motions" of her body. She also seemed disoriented at times. The emergency room physicians were unable to diagnose her condition definitively, but admitted her for hydration and observation. Her death was caused by a combination of pethidine (aka meperidine (Demerol)) and phenelzine. The doctor who prescribed the pethidine was a medical intern. The case had an impact on graduate medical education and residency work hours. Limits were set on working hours for medical post graduates, commonly referred to as interns or residents, in hospital training programs, and they also now require closer senior physician supervision.
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