CASE REPORTS IMMEDIATE FATALITIES AFTER INTRAVENOUS MER-

SUDDEN deaths shortly after the intravenous injection of various mercurial diuretics, although rare, have been reported with increasing frequency in recent years. Reported instances 1_15 of fatalities within a few minutes after the injec-tion, and apparently caused by it, now total 31 (table 1). Another case is added below. Deaths occurring many hours or days after the injection, even though there appears to be a definite relationship, are not included, since the mechanism is entirely different. In addition to the fatalities, there have been many, very severe reactions recorded,5 ' 12»16 and undoubtedly many more that were never reported. A study of the descriptions of these cases shows that in most in-stances it was merely by the greatest good fortune that they were not fatal, so closely do they resemble the fatal ones. There have been reports of several cases in which the intravenous injection of the mercurial diuretic may have been the direct cause of death, but in which the time relations, moribund condition of the patient, and other factors leave room for doubt about the role of the mercurial.17"21 CASE REPOR