Common antibiotic drove a lawyer to kill himself by walking into traffic after he survived crashing into a barrier, coroner rules

Published 30 October 2026, 19:01

• Reading lawyer Alexander Mulroney, who had no history of mental illness, died two days after he started taking the antibiotic ofloxacin.
• Berkshire assistant coroner Ian Wade KC found the drug's suicide warning sits at the end of 41 lines of small print.
• Mr Mulroney stopped on the way to send his wife a text "expressing sorrow for what he was about to do."

A married lawyer with no history of mental illness killed himself just two days after starting a common antibiotic, with a coroner finding the drug induced his determination to end his life and branding it "a dangerous product."

Alexander Warrick Mulroney, described in the Prevention of Future Deaths report as "an intelligent and successful lawyer with a wife and children he loved, in a secure relationship" with "no history of emotional or mental ill-health," was prescribed ofloxacin — a fluoroquinolone antibiotic — after a first-line antibiotic had failed to clear a recurring urinary and genital condition.

He began taking it on 16 December 2025.

Late on the evening of 17 December, Mulroney left his Reading home wearing his pyjamas and a coat, telling his wife he was going to hospital because of a rash — which the coroner found to be untrue.

He stopped en route to send her a text message "expressing sorrow for what he was about to do."

In the early hours of 18 December 2025, he intentionally accelerated his vehicle toward a barrier in a bid to kill himself, surviving the impact before walking back onto the road and placing himself in front of an approaching vehicle, "giving that vehicle no opportunity to avoid striking him."

He suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene.

The inquest, heard and concluded by Ian Wade KC, Assistant Coroner for Berkshire, on 6 August 2026, returned a conclusion of suicide.

Wade found that "on the balance of probability the prescribed ofloxacin did not cause death but induced a determination to end his life."

Ofloxacin belongs to the class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones, recognised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as being associated with a wide range of harms.

Existing warnings already state: "Fluoroquinolones can cause psychiatric side-effects, including depression and psychosis, even after the first dose. In rare cases, these can lead to thoughts or attempts of suicide, and have been associated with the completed suicide of a patient without a history of psychiatric disorders."

But Wade found those warnings are structured in a way that makes them easy to miss.

The single high severity alert in prescribing software refers only in vague terms to "very rare reports of disabling and potentially long-lasting or irreversible side effects" without mentioning suicide — language Wade said "would not ordinarily prompt consideration of death."

The suicide warning is buried at the end of 41 lines of dense small print.

After the 12 medium severity warnings cover non-fatal outcomes at length, the final one states: "Alert - MHRA advises quinolones can cause psychiatric side effects including depression and psychosis which can lead to thoughts or attempts of suicide."

Wade heard evidence that in a typical time-pressured GP consultation, "the placing of an understated reference to the possibility of suicidal thoughts at the end of a relatively long and complex list of so-called medium severity alerts is missed, or is misleading, or is ineffective."

The coroner noted that Mulroney's death was not an isolated case, warning that "the current approach to publishing warnings of possible harm provides insufficient safeguards and fails properly and adequately to inform both prescribers and patients of danger."

The report was sent to the MHRA, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the British National Formulary, each legally required to respond within 56 days, setting out what action has been taken or is proposed.