DRINKERS were warned by the Dublin County Coroner yesterday not to mix alcohol with prescribed drugs to ease Christmas stresses, after an inquest heard that a Dublin biochemist died from an accidental overdose of drink and tablets.
Dr Bartley Sheehan, coroner, said many people were lonely at Christmas and experienced considerable distress over family issues and financial worries.
He said: "Sometimes in order to relieve the effects of these upsets some people mix alcohol with their medically prescribed drugs. But one only acts to increase the effects of the other."
His comments came after an inquest jury in Dun Laoghaire recorded a verdict of accidental death on Ms Abigail Maud Vaughan (50), single, of Windsor Court, Stradbrook Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin, who was found dead by gardai at her home on May 19th last.
Garda Maurice Gill told the inquest the body was lying beside two bottles of gin, one of them empty, and also a quantity of antidepressant and sedative tablets.
Mr Charles Corcoran, barrister, for the family, said Ms Vaughan had been looking forward to her nephew's wedding.
A post mortem examination carried out by Dr Niamh Nolan, a pathologist in Loughlinstown Hospital, said death was from respiratory depression due to a mixture of alcohol and tablets.