Victim Appeared so Horrific, They Thought it was Murder

Washington, DCThey went to bed as they normally did each night for the two years the couple had been together. Until the morning when Gary Beatham awakened to find his partner gravely ill. He called an ambulance, but Louise Armstrong could not be revived. She died of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) on New Years Eve.

In an ironic twist of fate, the late Ms. Armstrong looked such a fright that authorities initially believed that Beatham had taken his partner's life, and held him in a jail cell, clad in a paper jumpsuit, on suspicion of murder. It wasn't until a pathologist confirmed that Armstrong had died from the rare skin condition, that Beatham was released and cleared of all suspicion.

Such is the devastation and the speed of SJS. Armstrong, who was 43, was described as healthy and effervescent with a love of life. Her only mistake appeared to be the ingestion of an antibiotic she had been prescribed. Investigators are in the midst of determining if Ms. Armstrong had an allergic reaction to the drug that brought on SJS.

That's the working hypothesis, and it is not without precedent. SJS has been known to be triggered by an allergic reaction to some medications.

Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the International Serious Adverse Event Consortium (SAEC) earlier this month released the first data on an international effort studying the genetic basis for some adverse drug events.

"The SAEC has fulfilled a key goal of the Critical Path Initiative by providing the research community with public access to new genomic data on adverse drug events," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "This consortium has taken a significant step forward by promoting open sharing of drug safety data. This type of cooperation has the potential to lead to more personalized approaches to medicine that can reduce a patient's risk for experiencing an adverse drug event."

The consortium's initial findings will be published later this year. "The data are focused on the genetics associated with drug-induced serious skin rashes, such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, and helps better predict an individual's risk of developing these reactions," states a release from the FDA.

The intent is to explain the link between some drugs, and conditions such as SJS. The latter is characterized as a rare, but debilitating skin condition that presents with sometimes-horrendous blisters and skin rash. The eyes are often adversely affected, and some SJS patients have suffered blindness. Others, like the late Louise Armstrong, suffer such an intense reaction that they do not survive. Severe SJS has been described as being akin to severe burns. Given the size, and scope of an individual's skin (and the fact it is such a large human organ), massive devastation of the skin from burns, or a burn-like condition is often not survivable.

While the late Ms. Armstrong was taking a prescribed antibiotic, recent reports have linked SJS with over-the-counter medications such as children's Motrin. Various lawsuits have stemmed from the accusation that while prescription Motrin contained a warning with regard to the possibility of allergic reactions—SJS among them—the over-the-counter version was alleged to contain insufficient warnings.

Louise Armstrong had been struggling with a flu-like illness for several days. She died on New Years Eve after taking an anti-biotic in an effort to rid her body of illness.
Instead, she died at 43. The pathologist reported that Ms. Armstrong had grossly blistered skin, according to Armstrong's mother, Angie. "They mentioned that it might be this Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and how Louise had a lot of blisters."

While research continues, patients who have suffered SJS as the result of taking either prescription, or over-the-counter medication would be well advised to consult an attorney. Drug manufacturers who knowingly vend products carrying a risk for such reactions, regardless of how rare, should be held accountable.