125 stories for 125 years

Atropine poisoning

In 1969, a demonstrator at the college accidentally poisoned eight of her students after giving them an incorrect dosage of Atropine. The pharmacologist misread the decimal scale and gave the second year physiology students 12.5 times the normal therapeutic maximum dose.

An overdose of the drug is not considered to be life threatening, however can produce pronounced physiological effects including; tachycardia, palpitations, hyperpyrexia, pupillary dilation and blurred vision, lack of perspiration, urinary retention, dryness of the mouth and thirst.

A doctor was called to check on the students and admitted them to hospital for observation. The students were discharged the following day and soon returned to class.

The event warranted the establishment of a committee to investigate the value of student ingestion of medical substances. It was decided a ban would be placed on the administration of drugs to student or staff for research or teaching purposes.