title: Zopiclone fatality in a hospitalized patient.
abstract: The death of a 72-year-old man is described who overdosed himself while in hospital. The man was being treated for lung cancer and ingested 90 mg of zopiclone in a suicide attempt. He died between 4 and 10 h after the ingestion. Zopiclone, quantitated by GC-MS in the femoral blood, cardiac blood, vitreous humor, urine and bile was found to be 254, 408, 94, 7,330, and 114,700 ng/mL, respectively. Considering the man's weakened physical condition, 90 mg could represent a minimum lethal zopiclone dose.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, St. Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Meatherall
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D053961:Azabicyclo Compounds; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000506:poisoning*; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission; D010879:Piperazines / Q000506:poisoning*; D013405:Suicide
chemical_list: D053961:Azabicyclo Compounds; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D010879:Piperazines; C515050:zopiclone