Safe sedation?

Abstract

Death due to barbiturate overdosage has been an increasing problem, rising steadily in England and Wales from a death rate of 2 per million population in 1949 to 5 per million in 1958 (1). Of 2,044 consecutive fatal poisonings studied in Denmark between 1953 and 1959, over a quarter were due to barbiturates (2). 300 tons of barbiturate are consumed in the U.S.A. every year and acute poisoning with it in that country accounts for 1,500 deaths per year (3).