‘Like a bad dream’: Briton’s death in Spain heightens fears about painkiller Nolotil

The controversial painkiller is being cited in a growing number of deaths in Spain despite warnings about dangerous side-effects

On an October evening last year, Summer Moses stood at her partner's bedside in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Spain and agreed the life support systems could be switched off. Her partner, Mark Brooks, lay under a transparent cover surrounded by tubes and machines. His body was swollen, blistered and broken.

Moses was in a state of shock. Just six days earlier, Brooks had been enjoying a game of golf in eastern Spain in bright sunshine near his home. He sought treatment the next day for shoulder pain, and was given a painkiller injection of the drug metamizole at a local clinic.