| Milosevic took drug that made him worse Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1719690http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1719690
Milosevic Took Drug That Made Him Worse Toxicologist Says Milosevic Took Drug That Diluted Prescriptions in a Bid to Get Out of Jail
By ANTHONY DEUTSCH The Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands Mar 13, 2006 (AP)— THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A Dutch toxicologist said Monday that Slobodan Milosevic was taking antibiotics that diluted prescriptions for heart ailments and high blood pressure while he was pleading with a U.N. tribunal for permission to get treatment in Russia.
Donald Uges said he found traces of rifampicin, an antituberculosis drug, in Milosevic's system earlier this year after the former Yugoslav leader did not respond to blood pressure medication given at the U.N. detention center.
Rifampicin "makes the liver extremely active," possibly hindering the effectiveness of other medications.
"If you're taking something, it breaks down very quickly," said Uges, who was asked by the tribunal to conduct an independent review.
Milosevic, 64, was found dead in his jail cell Saturday morning of an apparent heart attack. Hours earlier, he wrote an accusatory letter alleging that a "heavy drug" had been found in his bloodstream during a medical exam.
His ailments caused numerous delays in his four-year trial for orchestrating a decade of conflict that killed 250,000 people and tore the Yugoslav federation asunder. No verdict will be issued.
Uges suggested Milosevic may have taken the unprescribed medicine in a bid to be released from jail and get medical attention in Russia by portraying his Dutch doctors as unable to treat his condition.
"First he wasn't taking his medicine. Then he was forced to take it under supervision and his blood pressure still didn't come down. So his camp said: 'You see, these Dutch doctors don't know how to treat him and he should go to Russia,'" Uges said.
Milosevic's widow, Mirjana Markovic, and their son, Marko, live in Russia.
Rifampicin is used with other drugs to treat tuberculosis. It also can be used alone to treat certain bacterial infections or asymptomatic carriers of a type of meningitis.
According to the U.S. prescribing label, the drug affects enzymes in the body to speed metabolism of a host of other drugs, meaning higher doses of those other medications may be needed to compensate. It also can cause liver damage.
Doctors who examined Milosevic at the detention center diagnosed him as having hypertension, or high blood pressure, and hypertrophic heart disease, a thickening of the heart muscle.
U.N.-appointed doctors examined Milosevic in November and initially concluded he had been refusing to take his prescribed medicine, since the blood pressure was not responding.
Under orders of the judges, Milosevic was then required to take his medicine under supervision, but the "pressure still didn't come down," said Uges, a toxicologist from University Hospital of Groningen.
He said Dutch doctors concluded after a Jan. 12 examination that the most likely explanation was that Milosevic was taking another drug that counteracted his blood pressure medication.
Milosevic, who asked the court in December to be released to travel to Russia for treatment, contested the doctors' opinion, so the court asked Uges to conduct a more sophisticated test. That was done two weeks ago.
He said his investigation confirmed the earlier findings. Toxicological tests conducted during Sunday's autopsy would show whether the traces were still in Milosevic's blood when he died, Uges said.
Tribunal President Fausto Pocar said he ordered the autopsy and toxicological examination after a Dutch coroner was unable Saturday to establish the cause of death. Serbia sent a pathologist to observe the autopsy at the Netherlands Forensic Institute.
A legal aide to Milosevic, meanwhile, said Monday the late Serb leader would be buried in Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro a funeral that could provoke tumultuous scenes in the capital he ruled for 13 years before being extradited to the war crimes tribunal for trial.
Tomanovic said Milosevic's family wanted a state funeral in Belgrade, apparently resolving an internal dispute over whether he should be buried in Serbia, Russia or Montenegro. The Dutch Embassy in Moscow on Monday granted a three-day visa to Milosevic's son so he can travel to The Hague to claim his father's remains, the Netherlands said.
It was unclear if Serb authorities would approve a Belgrade funeral. Serbian President Boris Tadic has said a state funeral would be "absolutely inappropriate," and he reiterated Monday he would not pardon Markovic.
"I have just submitted information to the government of Serbia that the funeral will be in Belgrade, that this is the wish of (the) Milosevic family," Tomanovic told reporters at the U.N. tribunal.
Milosevic's widow and son are wanted on international arrest warrants for abuse of power and could be taken into custody upon returning to Serbia.
Marko Milosevic said Monday from Moscow that his family could ask for the former Yugoslav leader to be interred temporarily in Moscow until a funeral could be held in Belgrade.
"It depends on whether they will secure my family's safety," he said.
The allegations in what amounted to Milosevic's deathbed letter put the tribunal and U.N. prosecutors on the defensive. The tribunal said Sunday a heart attack killed Milosevic, according to preliminary findings from a nearly eight-hour autopsy.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow does not fully trust Milosevic's autopsy and wants to send doctors to examine the body. Dutch visas were granted Monday to four Russian doctors.
Tadic told The Associated Press he believed the tribunal was responsible for Milosevic's death.
Before the preliminary autopsy results were released, chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said suicide could not be ruled out. Milosevic's parents committed suicide.
Tomanovic said the ex-president feared he was being poisoned. He showed reporters a six-page letter Milosevic wrote to Russian officials Friday the day before his death claiming a medication used to treat leprosy or tuberculosis was found in his blood during a January exam.
"They would like to poison me," Tomanovic quoted Milosevic as telling him.
Uges said he found the same antibiotic in Milosevic's blood weeks later.
Milosevic asked the tribunal in December for permission to seek heart treatment in Moscow. That request was denied after tribunal officials expressed concern Milosevic might not return. He repeated the request last month.
Milosevic went on trial in February 2002 on 66 counts for war crimes and genocide in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during Yugoslavia's violent breakup in the 1990s. He was the first sitting head of state indicted for war crimes.
But his health problems repeatedly delayed the proceedings, which cost an estimated $200 million and were due to wrap up this summer.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
|
|