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Article: Prescription that ended a healthy young life
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- October 20, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Rachael Ashbrook was a healthy young woman who did not smoke,
drink or have "any problems whatsoever". At 22 she was prescribed
the contraceptive pill Femodene. Within four months she was dead.
At first her family thought her sudden death was "one in a
million". Yesterday's announcement confirmed their conviction that
it had been no freak incident.
In May 1991, Miss Ashbrook went on holiday to Cornwall. After
climbing St Michael's Mount she collapsed. "She appeared to be
having some sort of fit," said her brother Wayne, 35. "Passers-by
tried to revive her but at one point one of them said she had died
and they lost her. She stopped breathing. She was taken to Truro
hospital and put on a ...