A coroner has issued a warning after a 93-year-old woman with dementia died after eating toxic laundry capsules, mistaking them for sweets because of their bright packaging.
Elizabeth van der Drift She died on March 19 this year from complications of aspiration pneumonia, ingesting laundry tablets and dementia. Her carer told her inquest that the capsule packaging “looked a lot like a packet of sweets”. Prevent Future Fatality Report (PFD).
Assistant coroner Ian Potter warned that product safety regulations may not have “sufficiently taken into account” the risks to people with dementia.
“The potential dangers of these types of products to children have long been recognized, but there appears to be less awareness of the risks they pose to people with dementia and other cognitive impairments,” he told PFD.
The coroner, based in north London, said the capsules’ “bright, eye-catching colours” were an “industry-wide phenomenon”.
As a result, he said it would be “short-sighted” to send a warning to the individual manufacturers of the pods in question. Instead, the report was sent to the chief executive of the UK Product Safety and Standards Agency, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the director general of the Association of the British Cleaning Products Industry.
The coroner said he was “familiar” with the Food Imitation (Safety) Regulations 1989 but that “it appears to me that either the regulations themselves are insufficiently considerate of people living with dementia or other cognitive impairment, or that their application is not sufficiently rigorous.”
The regulations prohibit the supply of products that are not suitable for human consumption but may be mistaken for food and list the dangers to children.
Ms Der Drift said she had suffered from dementia “for years” and often couldn’t remember the last time she ate. She would often “go looking for something to eat” and on March 13 or 14 “picked up some laundry detergent tablets”. [or] He said he found “brightly colored pods” and “ate at least one.”
The product is described as “predominantly bright pink and white, with some orange, yellow and green mixed in,” and the containers have no “obvious design features” that would make it difficult for people with “very basic manual dexterity” to reach the “presumably sweet” pods, he said.
Shortly after ingesting the product, Ms Der Drift was found complaining of abdominal pain and shortness of breath. An ambulance was called and she died in hospital a few days later. An autopsy determined her death was accidental.
The recipient of the PFD has until October 8 this year to respond to the report with details of the action that has been taken or will be taken, or the reasons why no action has been taken, unless the coroner extends the period.
