A 93-year-old dementia patient has reportedly died after eating laundry detergent capsules that looked like candy.
Elizabeth Van Der-Drift died on March 19 of this year from a combination of aspiration pneumonia, ingestion of toxic laundry detergent tablets and dementia.
A nurse told the inquest into Ms Van Der-Drift’s death that the packaging “bear more than a passing resemblance to a bag of sweets”, according to a Preventing Future Deaths (PFD) report.
Deputy Coroner Ian Potter warned that the regulations may not adequately take into account the risks to people with dementia and mental disabilities.
In the PFD, he said: “It has long been known that products of this type can pose risks to children. However, the risks to people with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment appear to be less well known.”
The Inner North London coroner said the “bright, eye-catching colours” were an “industry-wide phenomenon”.
It would therefore be “short-sighted” to address the warning directly to the individual manufacturers.
Instead, the report was forwarded to the CEO of the Office for Product Safety and Standards, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Director General of the UK Cleaning Product Industry Association.
The coroner said he was “well aware” of the Food Imitations (Safety) Regulations 1989, but “it seems to me that either the regulations themselves do not adequately take into account the needs of dementia or other cognitive impairments, or that the regulations are not applied consistently enough.”
The regulation prohibits the sale of products that are unsuitable for human consumption but can easily be confused with food and explicitly points out the danger to children.
Ms Van Der-Drift has suffered from dementia for “several years” and often cannot remember the last time she ate, Mr Potter said.
He said she had often been “looking for something to eat” and on March 13 or 14, she “gained access to colorful laundry detergent tablets (or capsules)” and “bit into at least one of them.”
The product was described as “predominantly bright pink and white, but also orange, yellow and green.”
It also has no “obvious design feature” that would make it difficult for someone with “even the most basic manual dexterity” to access the “possibly candy-like” capsules, Potter said.
Shortly after consuming the product, Ms. Der-Drift complained of stomach pain and shortness of breath.
An ambulance was called and she died in hospital days later.
The investigation revealed that her death was an accident.
Recipients of the PFD must respond to the report by 8 October this year, providing details of the action taken or proposed, or the reasons for not taking action, unless the Coroner extends the deadline.
