Sudden Death in Schizophrenia

Sudden death in schizophrenia is a commonly encountered history in forensic pathology. Most of these deaths, upon investigation and autopsy, are natural, usually relating to cardiovascular disease. In some instances, schizophrenia itself has been proposed as a cause of death. However, often schizophrenic patients are also on long-term medications with multiple dangerous side effects, many of which are not well represented in the forensic literature. We present a 24-year-old male who developed weakness after beginning olanzapine therapy and was subsequently found to have rhabdomyolysis, which was only diagnosed at autopsy.