Newtownards: Family thought granny was dead after medication mix-up

The family called an ambulance, which took Mrs Whitla to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

She needed to be given oxygen, had low blood pressure and her heart rate was dropping.

Mr Gibson said doctors initially thought something else may have happened to her given her level of consciousness.

But he said they later told him the cause was an antidepressant from his mother’s medication.

She began to regain responsiveness in the evening and was finally able to get out of bed again by 22:00, 13 hours after she took the medication.

After this she suffered from severe confusion, which continued in the following days.

“Granny wasn’t with us, she was away with it,” Mr Gibson said.

“Her confusion level was just off the Richter scale.”

She is now recovering at home, but Mr Gibson said she was still not back to normal.

“She still remains confused,” he said.

“Like any 87 year old, my granny could be a bit forgetful, but prior to hospital admission that’s as far as it went.

“Now it’s just there’s that level of confusion.”