Question Title: Can a reaction to pain medication cause heart failure?

My father (49 yrs. old, 6'4", 250 lbs, retired police officer) was in a fairly serious car accident on Sun, 6-20-99, Father's Day. Take to ER with a broken pelvis, several broken ribs, a contusion on his spleen, and several bruises, internal and external. Dr. said that he was in serious condition and in a lot of pain (for which they administered Morphine on a regular basis), but none of his injuries were life-threatening, so the Dr. expected a full recovery. However, they were going to keep an eye on the spleen because it was building fluid, and it may need to be removed.

After spending 3 days in ICU, Dad seemed to slowly be making progress. However, he had developed a slight fever along with an elevated white blood cell count, which indicated an infection, and they were having trouble isolating the source. Nevertheless, they moved him to a private room last Wednesday. He was awake and coherent and even making jokes.

On Saturday, they decided to start weaning him off of the Morphine, so they administered a dose of another pain medication called Toradol (or Toradof, I'm not completely sure of the spelling). Within 20 minutes or so, my father's blood pressure dropped dramatically, and then his heart just stopped. Of course the usually barrage of doctors and nurses rushed in, and fortunately got his heart started again. Now my father is back in ICU in critical condition. He is on a ventilator, is occasionally semi-conscious, and has had to be strapped to his bed because he tries to pull out the various tubes and IV’s that are in him. It’s heartbreaking.

But what’s worse, is that no-one can seem to tell us why this happened. The doctors examined his heart and claim that they cannot find anything wrong… No defects, no disease, no blockages, no clots. Correct me if I am wrong, but people’s hearts don’t just stop for no reason, right? I’m no doctor (I’m a computer programmer specializing in F&I), but I must admit that I believe that it’s more than just a coincidence that dad crashed shortly after they changed his pain medication.

Could it have been the Toradol? I have been trying to find out more information about this drug on the net, but am having some difficulty. Can you tell me if Toradol is known for causing violent side affects? If so, shouldn’t the hospital staff known this? If not, what else could have triggered his heart failure? Dad is currently being treated at a hospital in a medium-sized city in a mostly rural area, and (I hate to ask this, but I feel I must) should I be concerned about the quality of his care and the competency of his care-givers? What if this happens again? At what point should I insist that he be transported to a larger, more modern facility in a metropolitan area?

Any insight you could give would be greatly appreciated.

I really doubt the Torodol was the source, unless he had some type of allergic reaction which is unlikely. Torodal is in the same family of medications as Advil and Motrin so if he ever took one of these without difficulty an allergic reaction can be excluded. Potential side effects of Torodol are GI upset and kidney damage. The more likely cause of his cardiac arrest would be his infection. A very serious infection can cause the heart to stop. Discuss your concerns with his doctors and if they really have no idea what is wrong with him then it may be worthwhile to ask them to transfer him to a tertiary medical center (i.e. large university hospital). If on the other hand they know what is wrong and just need time for the medication to work it is probably OK to stay where he is. Best wishes.

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