Twin drama in Lower Austria

4-year-old dies from cough syrup: Supreme Court backs mother

Cough syrup cost a four-year-old her life.(Bild: Olga Yastremska, New Africa, Africa Studio)

In January 2015, a four-year-old died in Kritzendorf (Lower Austria) after taking a prescribed cough syrup that was approved for use from the age of three. The shock in the family, especially in the twin sister of the deceased, was profound. This was followed by years of litigation with the pharmaceutical company and the manufacturer. The defendants did not shy away from going all the way to the Supreme Court. Which has now reached a decision.

The unbelievable tragedy happened in Kritzendorf on the night of 22 January 2015. The twins of a family living there were ill and coughing. Cara (name changed) had it particularly bad. Her mother gave the four-year-old girls the cough syrup "Codipertussin", which the doctor had previously prescribed. Cara fell asleep in her mother's arms the night before. But she never woke up. The autopsy revealed that she died from taking the cough syrup containing codeine. 

Instructions for use trivialized the risks
In August 2016, the single mother took legal action against the pharmaceutical company and the manufacturer for the first time. The case concerned compensation for grief, including for Cara's twin sister and half-siblings, as well as funeral costs, therapy costs and loss of earnings totaling around 100,000 euros. The court of first instance awarded the surviving dependants compensation for pain and suffering due to "shock damage" with illness value and other costs.

I am relieved about the Supreme Court's decision, although the money cannot compensate for the mother's pain.

Rechtsanwalt Franz Kienesberger

Bild: zVg

The instructions for use gave a completely incorrect impression of the already known danger of the cough syrup and did not draw attention to the possible lethal effect. At the time, the medicine was approved for children aged three and over. According to Franz Kienesberger, the mother's lawyer, it has since been withdrawn from the market.

Pharmaceutical company pursued all legal remedies
However, the pharmaceutical company was reluctant and used every legal means at its disposal to fight the decision. The reasoning: "Codipertussin" had been approved as a medicinal product at the time and the approval also referred to the content of the instructions for use. Even if the drug had been administered in an overdose, the Court of Appeal found that it was not clear from the instructions for use that an overdose could be potentially fatal.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court (OGH), which has now, nine and a half years after the tragedy, made a decision in the case in favor of the mother and siblings. The defendant's appeal was not upheld. The information that a cough syrup can have a fatal effect on children should have been "expressly and comprehensibly" stated in the instructions for use. 

Great grief among the bereaved 
According to lawyer Kienesberger, this is little consolation for the mother: "When she looks at her daughter, she always thinks of her twin sister" - who was only allowed to live for four years because of a cough syrup.