Colchicine: a case of unexpected fatal toxicity

A disadvantage of working in a hospital emergency department as a GP is that you see the complications of illnesses and therapy. In other words, there is a select casemix of patients, often referred by fellow GPs, biased towards pathology and needing resuscitation, diagnosis and, frequently, hospital care.

As one of the more experienced doctors, you also attend patients with a triage category of 2. These are patients who are attended to immediately in a resuscitation cubicle because they have a potential life-threatening condition, such as cardiac chest pain, or abnormal vital signs, including decreased level of consciousness.