MD: Online medical treatment 'frightening'

There are a few more details about the Marcia Bergeron in this article. Most notably, the names of the drugs she bought online were mentioned: alprazolam (brand name Xanax) and zolpidem (brand name Ambien in the U.S)

From the Vancouver Sun:
The Quadra Island woman who died after taking tainted pills she bought on the Internet became very sick in the weeks leading up to her death but never mentioned ordering drugs online, her best friend said yesterday.

"She complained that she felt like she had flu symptoms and diarrhea," said Glenda Billerbeck, who visited Marcia Bergeron at her home in the days before her death. "She said, 'My legs are kind of swollen up,' and she was tired."

Billerbeck said Bergeron, 57, suffered from several health problems, including a bad hip and severe allergies.

But she said her friend, whom she knew for more than 15 years, never mentioned ordering medicine online. ...more

Online drugs can prove deadly: coroner

This death is a sad example of "buyer beware." I'd like to think that it might dissuade a few people to buy pharmaceuticals online from questionable websites, but the fact is a lot of people want to circumvent the typical route of going to the physician and getting a prescription, especially when it comes to certain types of drugs. Hopefully, people will now be able to identify some of the characteristics of the worst sites.

It sounds like she was ordering painkillers and sedatives, including one that is not available in Canada due to a high risk of overdose. In a lot of ways, this case has similarities to buying Oxcontin on the shady street corner in your own town. You never really know what you're getting. The only difference is that she bought it online.

From Vancouver Sun:
A few days before she died just after Christmas, Marcia Bergeron started losing her hair and had blurred vision -- telling friends on Quadra Island that she feared she was coming down with the flu.

It was only later that those investigating her death discovered the truth: She had slowly been poisoned.

But this is no murder mystery.

The B.C. Coroners Service announced Tuesday that it believes Bergeron, 57, was poisoned by tainted pills she ordered online from a bogus Canadian pharmacy. ...more

Pills bought online likely killed B.C. woman

From the Globe and Mail:
Pills bought on the Internet appear to have killed a 57-year-old woman on Vancouver Island, regional coroner Rose Stanton said Tuesday.

She said the woman, who lived in the Campbell River area, bought a sedative not legally sold in Canada and which has been linked to overdose deaths in other countries. ...more