Binge-drinking woman addicted to painkillers died aged 23 after liver swap

Charlotte Wardle, 23, suffered severe liver failure brought on by overdosing on Paracetamol and heavy drinking.

She was admitted to hospital on August 28 last year with a history of vomiting and severe abdominal pain.

She eventually confessed to having taken an overdose of Paracetamol, and after her liver was found to be failing she was transferred to St James’s Hospital in Leeds for a transplant the next day.

Surgery was carried out on September 2 but her condition rapidly deteriorated and she suffered a heart attack and died on September 4.

Pathologist Dr Sally Osbourne told the Rotherham hearing that toxicity from the tablets and liver failure set off a chain of events which led to bleeding in the stomach and not enough blood being circulated to the heart.

Miss Wardle, who lived with her brother at Birch Court Park, Hartington Close, Rotherham, was unemployed.

Her family told the inquest she would binge drink once a fortnight on lager and vodka.

Her mother Mandy Broadbent told the inquest she did not want to get fat.

She said: “She ate whenever someone cooked for her but if she was on her own would not eat,” she said.

Miss Broadbent said her daughter became addicted to the extra-strength painkiller codeine but was weaned off it by her doctor but then began taking Paracetamol to get the same fix.

Consultant Dr Vernon Davies said a liver transplant was the only chance for Miss Wardle and it went “reasonably well”. But she began bleeding internally and there was a “catastrophic” decline.

He explained Paracetamol destroys the liver’s cells and if combined with large amounts of alcohol it would produce a toxic by-product leading to liver failure.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Nicola Mundy said it was unclear as to why Miss Wardle took the overdose of tablets but she did not believe it was deliberate.