A coroner has found that an overdose of blooding thinning medication may have played a part in the death of a Southland man.
Bill Brocks, 80, died in May 2011 because of a brain haemorrhage. He had been taking warfarin, an anticoagulent.
Southland coroner David Crerar said the dosage was accidentally increased from 2mg or 3mg per day to 5mg while he was in hospital.
Mr Crerar says the increase did not cause the haemorrhage, but it may have meant there was extra bleeding.
He said one of the reasons for the high dosage was that medical staff were confused by acronyms used on the pill bottle.
Mr Crerar recommended that Southland District Health Board consider simplifying the language it uses.
