The student, 24, died after becoming a habitual user of nitrous oxide. Her fiance told Sky News she ended up being unable to walk or get to the toilet due to her use of the drug. A 24-year-old woman died from long-term complications stemming from her use of nitrous oxide and immobility, a coroner has ruled.
Ellen Mercer died from a pulmonary embolism after inhaling two to three “big bottles” of the substance each day, an inquest heard. This case has highlighted how hugely dangerous it is to use nitrous oxide,” senior coroner Heidi Connor said. Describing the student’s death as “such a sad waste of a young woman’s life,” the coroner added her use of the drug had been a “significant cause of her immobility and developing clots.”
The inquest heard a post-mortem examination report found Ms Mercer’s death to have been caused by bilateral pulmonary thromboembolism, deep vein thrombosis, and “long-term complications of nitrous oxide use”.
She was said to have spent the previous two weeks unable to leave her bed because of her abuse of the substance.
Ms Mercer died in February last year after being admitted to hospital with a blister caused by a laughing gas canister stuck to her leg.
She had become a habitual user of nitrous oxide and medics who tried to save her reportedly found “features of neurological compromise”.
Subsequent tests showed nitrous oxide inhalation had resulted in Ms Mercer developing serious circulation and breathing problems.
Her fiance Tom Bailey told Sky News his bubbly, kind, and caring partner would get through three to four canisters in one sitting. “Her reactions became slower and her face would show discoloring,” he said. “And then it was all a build-up due to the burns… then she was unable to walk, so then she was unable to go to the toilet.”
Mr Bailey added that his fiancee would “sit there and do all of [the laughing gas] in one go.”
“It got to the point where she couldn’t put it down,” he said. “She’d have to finish it and then she’d want more.
“If she didn’t have it, she wouldn’t be happy without it.”
