Paper

Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on knowledge of specific dangers of self poisoning: population based surveys

BMJ 1999; 318 doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7189.978 (Published 10 April 1999)
Cite this as: BMJ 1999;318:978
  1. Susan O'Connor, consultant psychiatrista,
  2. Jonathan J Deeks, medical statisticianb,
  3. Keith Hawton, professor of psychiatryc,
  4. Sue Simkin, research assistantc,
  5. Allison Keen, research assistantd,
  6. Douglas G Altman, directorb,
  7. Greg Philo, research directore,
  8. Christopher Bulstrode, professor of orthopaedics.d
  1. aUnited Bristol Healthcare Trust, Directorate of Mental Health, Barrow Hospital, Bristol BS19 3SG
  2. bICRF/NHS Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford OX3 7LF
  3. cUniversity of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX
  4. dUniversity of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU
  5. eGlasgow University Media Unit, Glasgow G12 8LF
  1. Correspondence to: Dr O'Connor
  • Accepted 18 March 1999

Paracetamol is the drug most commonly taken in overdose in the United Kingdom,1causing a substantial number of deaths.2 We have investigated the impact of the fictional portrayal of a potentially fatal paracetamol overdose in the television drama Casualty (seen by 12.8 million viewers) on short and long term knowledge related to paracetamol poisoning.

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Responses to questionnaire for patients presenting with overdoses in the three weeks before and the three weeks after broadcast of index Casualty episode. Values are numbers (percentages) of those who responded to question unless stated otherwise

Subjects, methods, and results

The episode (described in detail in accompanying article3) depicted a man suffering potentially fatal liver damage after an untreated paracetamol overdose. Although the particular dose (50 tablets) and delay before presentation (2 days) were mentioned, the episode did not specify minimal toxic doses or maximum safe delays.

At one week and 32 weeks after this episode …

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