A case report of sudden epileptic death linked to thermal water after mud therapy
Affiliations:
(1) Legal Medicine, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University -- Hospital of Padova
(2) Department of Neurosciences, University-Hospital of Padova
Source: Med Leg J. 2020 Mar;88(1):44-47
DOI: 10.1177/0025817220902395
Publication date:
2020 Mar
E-Publication date:
March 19, 2020
Availability: abstract
Copyright: © 2020, © SAGE Publications
Language: English
Countries: Italy
Location: Not specified
Correspondence address: Sanavio Matteo, Department of Legal and Occupational Medicine, Toxicology and Public Health, University-Hospital of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, 35128 Padova, Italy. Email: matteo.sanavio@studenti.unipd.it
Keywords
Article abstract
We present the case of a 60-year-old male, with a long history of epilepsy, who was discovered submerged and unconscious in a small thermal whirlpool bath. The circumstances were forensically reviewed to include examination of clinical data and an autopsy with toxicological analysis. The conclusion was that “warm” hydro-therapy had contributed more than “hot” mud-therapy to the onset of epilepsy which led to accidental drowning, notwithstanding the deceased’s treatment with the long-lasting, poly-drug antiepileptic therapy. Further, we analysed the Italian medical indications of wellness centres for patients with epilepsy or other diseases.