Depression medication warning after death of Lady Gabriella Kingston's husband
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A coroner has warned about the effects of depression medication after the husband of the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's daughter took his own life. Thomas Kingston, a 45-year-old financier, was found dead on 25 February last year at his parents' home in the Cotswolds.
Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, has said action must be taken over the risk of suicide to patients after finding he was "suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed". Mr Kingston married Lady Gabriella, 43, at Windsor Castle in 2019, with Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh among the guests.
The inquest into his death at Gloucestershire Coroner's Court last year was told he had initially been given sertraline, a drug used to treat mental health problems, and zopiclone, a sleeping tablet, after complaining of trouble sleeping following stress at work.
But after they did not have the desired impact, a GP switched him from sertraline to citalopram. In the days leading up to his death, Mr Kingston stopped taking medication. Read more:Who was Thomas Kingston?. In a prevention of future deaths report, Ms Skerrett questioned whether there is adequate communication of the risks of suicide associated with such medication.
She also raised concerns about whether the current guidance to persist with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications, or switch to an alternative SSRI medication, is appropriate when no benefit has been achieved - "especially when any adverse side effects are being experienced".
