Heavy smoker, 29, died after giving up cigarettes on holiday due to toxic reaction with his medication, inquest hears

Published: 12:34, 30 July 2026 | Updated: 12:49, 30 July 2026 A heavy smoker died after suffering a fatal reaction from quitting because the lack of cigarettes caused the medication he was on to become toxic, an inquest heard. Jack Burton, 29, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had been prescribed the antipsychotic clozapine by his community psychiatrist. However, smoking cigarettes lessened the effects of the medication, meaning he was required to take a higher dose of the drug. When he went on holiday with his family to Scarborough in October 2025, he decided to stop smoking. The decision proved fatal, as it caused the higher dose of the drug to become toxic and eventually killed him three days after he quit. Mr Burton, who lived in Worcester, took 525mg of the drug every night, which was the 'correct dose' while he was smoking.  The dose he was taking was considered dangerous for a non-smoker and caused a risk of seizures. Deborah Lakin, the coroner for Worcestershire, concluded that it is likely that Mr Burton's choice to give up smoking led to a fatal increase in clozapine blood levels.  Jack Burton, 29, died on October 7, 2025, after quitting smoking caused his medication to become toxic In a prevention of future deaths report, she said that if Mr Burton had planned to quit, he 'should have informed his psychiatrist to reduce the amount of clozapine he was taking'.  The coroner said she was concerned that there is a risk of further deaths without better guidance surrounding medication dosage and smoking. In the course of the inquest, it remained unclear whether Mr Burton had asked questions about his medication and whether the correct information had been provided. Ms Lakin said that during Mr Burton's inquest: 'There were inconsistent accounts provided to me by two consultant psychiatrists, about the relevance of reduction in smoking, rather than cessation of smoking, attributable to there being no guidance available to doctors on this issue.' She continued: 'The evidence revealed that there is no guidance on any standardised practice available to practitioners relating to asking questions and recording answers given when discussing possible symptoms of side effects of the medication. 'Practitioners can therefore make no record if no information is provided, which does not indicate whether questions were asked.'