A Case of Accidental <i>Veratrum californicum</i> (California False Hellebore) Toxicity

The <i>Veratrum</i> genus of plants contains multiple toxic alkaloid compounds, and ingestion of <i>Veratrum</i> species may result in clinically significant human illness. Although many cases of <i>Veratrum</i> ingestion have been reported in the Eastern United States and Europe, no case report of human toxicity from the most common California species, <i>Veratrum californicum,</i> exists in the literature. We report on the clinical course and treatment of a patient with a known <i>Veratrum californicum</i> ingestion. We discuss the identification of the <i>Veratrum</i> species and compare our case to other cases of <i>Veratrum</i> ingestions reported in the literature. We find that similar to ingestions of other <i>Veratrum</i> species, our patient became hypotensive and bradycardic, requiring fluid resuscitation. Similar to other reports, our patient responded to treatment with atropine and was able to safely discharge after a short hospital stay. Our case adds the first reported ingestion of <i>Veratrum californicum</i> to the literature of other <i>Veratrum</i> ingestions and suggests that this toxicity similarly responds to atropine and hemodynamic support.