An overdose of 15 amitriptyline tablets is inherently lethal.
"I took 15 pills. So 15 amitriptylines, which really is actually lethal." (said at 0:17:20)
Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant associated with notable overdose toxicity (including arrhythmias, hypotension, and seizures), but ingesting 15 tablets is not inherently or universally lethal. Tablet strengths commonly range from 10 mg to 50 mg (and up to 150 mg). Ingesting 15 tablets of standard lower formulations (such as 10 mg or 25 mg) corresponds to 150 mg to 375 mg, which spans standard daily therapeutic dosing up to mild-to-moderate toxicity. Severe life-threatening toxicity typically occurs at doses exceeding 10 mg/kg to 20 mg/kg (often >1,000 mg in an adult), and clinical toxicology series demonstrate that the vast majority of patients survive acute ingestions with prompt supportive care.
- contradicts: Acute amitriptyline intoxication: an analysis of 44 children. (Human & experimental toxicology 2006)
"The amount of amitriptyline ingested was between 2 mg/kg and 97.5 mg/kg (mean +/- SD; 13.6 +/- 17.7 mg/kg per dose)... In all patients except for two children who died the abnormal clinical and laboratory findings returned to normal within a few days after admission and they were discharged from the hospital in good health within the fourth day of admission." (abstract, results)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: Relative mortality from overdose of antidepressants. (BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 1995)
"81.6% (1310/1606) of deaths from antidepressant overdose were due to two drugs, amitriptyline and dothiepin. The overall average of deaths per million prescriptions was 30.1. The overall rate for tricyclic drugs was 34.14" (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)