Abstract

SUMMARY(1) From 1938 to 1943 inclusive there were 49 admissions for acute barbiturate poisoning to Charity Hospital, New Orleans. Five or 9.8 per cent of these cases proved fatal.(2) Eighteen took the drug with suicidal intent and thirteen accidentally.(3) Diagnosis is difficult when the history of ingestion cannot be ascertained and when gastric lavage fails to reveal telltale undigested colored capsules.(4) Treatment should consist of the immediate removal of unabsorbed drug from the gastro-intestinal tract, the administration of drugs to counteract the depressant effect on the central nervous system (picrotoxin, caffeine, strychnine, "coramine," and so on), prevention and treatment of circulatory collapse, and measures to prevent secondary infection, particularly bronchopneumonia.