The Foxglove is a very common plant in the UK, both in the garden and the wild, with the potential to kill in quite small amounts but also the source of medication which has saved thousands of lives since its discovery in 1775. I have always liked looking at these, but they have to be treated with respect.
In February 2016 there was an accidental poisoning of a 2-year old girl when out in the country with her family.
In April 2010, Lisa Leigh Allen of Denver Colorado entered a plea of guilty to felony assault as part of a plea bargain agreement. She had been accused of attempted murder after a meal of spaghetti and salad, fed to her husband, was found to have foxglove leaves in the salad. She was sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
Her husband, who required hospital treatment for severe gastrointestinal upset and heart problems, apparently thought the salad tasted unusually bitter but assumed it was just one of those fashionable herb leaves which seem to appear from time to time.
Digitalis at the rosette stage
A young plant showing the similarity of the
leaves to other plants
In 2005, an amateur botanist committed suicide by eating foxglove leaves. Knowing of their emetic effect, he limited his consumption to two leaves. It was twenty-four hours later before he suffered a fatal heart attack.
A retired hospital pharmacist told of a young man admitted to hospital after making himself a ‘herb’ quiche using foxglove leaves. His heartbeat became extremely slow and, for a couple of days, it was impossible to measure the digitalis level in his bloodstream as it was far above the maximum which the instruments could record. It took several days of intensive care for the level to subside and his heart rate to return to normal.
There are a number of instances of poisoning as a result of drinking herbal tea mistakenly made with foxglove leaves. Generally, the confusion appears to arise with Symphytum leaves.
In 2006, Charles Cullen was sentenced to multiple terms of life imprisonment in the USA after confessing to 29 murders of patients at hospitals where he worked as a nurse. His preferred weapons were lethal injections of digoxin or insulin. He may have killed another 11 but, it seems, their illnesses may have killed them before the injections could have an effect.