A coroner wants pharmacists to control the sale of laxatives after Claudia La Bella (pictured) died after taking 800 pills a day because of anorexia in 2014t
A mother-of-one who pretended she had cancer to disguise her 800-a-day laxative pill habit died after her weight plummeted to 35kgs.
Claudia La Bella spent $500 a week on the over the counter tablets in the lead up to her death in 2014.
The 28-year-old weighed 35kg when she was admitted to hospital just under four years ago after pretending to have terminal ovarian cancer to mask her deadly eating disorder.
South Australian Coroner Mark Johns has suggested laxatives including Dulcolax should be removed from chemist shelves and should only be available as ‘pharmacy-only medications’, 9News reported.
CT scans showed Ms La Bella ingested ‘dozens of pills’ despite the recommended dosage being two to three tablets a day.
A court previously heard her husband, John La Bella, family and friends were none the wiser to the young mother’s illness because Mr La Bella did not go to doctor’s appointments with her during the ‘elaborate ruse’.
Mr La Bella reportedly believed his wife when she told him doctors injected the laxatives with chemotherapy drugs.
‘I trusted her,’ Mr La Bella said. She’s an adult, not a child. I took her word.’
The mother-of-one spent $500 a week on the over the counter tablets in the lead up to her death where she weighed just 35kg which she hid by saying she had terminal cancer
South Australian Coroner Mark Johns has suggested laxatives including Dulcolax should be removed from chemist shelves and should only be available as ‘pharmacy-only medications’
A court heard her husband, John La Bella (pictured), family and friends were none the wiser to the young mother’s illness because Mr La Bella did not go to doctor’s appointments with her
The mother-of-one bought up to 30 boxes a week of Dulcolax at Chemist King in Hectorville, Adelaide’s north-eastern suburb, and would bulk buy the product, ABC News reported.
Mr Johns said Jessica Cutting, the retail manager who sold the laxatives, was an ‘unimpressive witness’ because she ‘was well aware that Claudia likely had an eating disorder’.
‘(Laxatives) should not be available for self-selection from pharmacy shelves or online stores and purchases should only be made following consultation with the pharmacist,’ he said.
The inquest heard the 28-year-old woman went to extreme lengths to keep her eating disorder secret.
Ms La Bella bought up to 30 boxes a week of Dulcolax at Chemist King Adelaide and told Mr La Bella (pictured) doctors injected the pills with chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer