Mom of 4 Died of Accidental Overdose After Taking Painkillers for 'Significant' Back Pain: Reports

A British mother reportedly died from an accidental overdose after taking painkillers to treat back pain, a court has heard.

On Friday, Feb. 21, an inquest hearing at Winchester Coroner's Court in Hampshire, U.K., found that Louise Ryan, 37, died from respiratory depression due to morphine, gabapentin and tramadol toxicity on Aug. 14, 2023, per a Record of Inquest document obtained by PEOPLE.

According to the Mayo Clinic, gabapentin is used to treat epilepsy, but is also used to "relieve pain for certain conditions in the nervous system," while tramadol is often used to "relieve moderate to moderately severe pain," and morphine is used to "treat pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment."

"Louise Samantha Ryan died at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester. She was admitted by ambulance on the 13th August having been found unresponsive," the document obtained by PEOPLE stated.

"She had taken a combination of three different medications which overwhelmed her breathing reflex," it added.

Assistant Coroner, Robert Simpson, ruled the death accidental, according to the document.

Ryan, who was a mother of four, had reportedly been dealing with "significant" back pain and severe headaches and had visited her doctor multiple times before her death, per the Daily Mail.

Simpson said Ryan was "willing to take pain-relieving medications when she needed them, whether or not they were prescribed by the GP," the inquest heard, according to the outlet.

Ryan's boyfriend, Garry Abraham-Browne, called for emergency services after he found Ryan unconscious in her bed on Aug. 13, 2023, and performed CPR until emergency services arrived on the scene, the paper reported.

Per the inquest, Ryan had been prescribed tramadol in 2020 following a carpal tunnel procedure. Citing the coroner, the Daily Mail stated that Ryan would occasionally take morphine belonging to her boyfriend, Abraham-Browne.

He said that there had been "conversations" about her taking the drug, adding, "As I've already said, if she was in pain she would do what she needed to do," per the outlet. He said he kept the morphine, which he had been prescribed, for "emergency use" and was "aware Lou took it on rare occasions."

Simpson said during the inquest, "In the past she had significant headaches and back pain and depression on and off for many years. I am able to find, on the balance of probability, that she took the medication herself and had a reason for doing so," according to the outlet.

"The question therefore was her aim. We know from her own text messages from the week before that she had been suffering back pain," he continued, per the U.K.-based outlet. "The internet searches don't suggest intent to take her own life."

"She didn't intend to take an overdose, and was addressing her pain," Simpson insisted, according to the outlet.

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A GoFundMe previously set up by Ryan's brother, Michael Barter, following her death in 2023, described her as "a loving [mom], a beautiful daughter, an amazing sister and a wonderful [aunt]."

"In her last moment she was surrounded by a united family and a room full of love," the description said. The page had raised almost $8,000 as of Tuesday, Feb. 25.

The Winchester Coroner’s Office wasn't able to provide any further information when contacted by PEOPLE. PEOPLE also reached out to Ryan's brother Michael but did not immediately hear back.