Ritika Janiya
A 93-year-old lady, Elizabeth Van Der-Drift, who is suffering from dementia, died after mistaken consumption of laundry pods resembling candy. She confused the colored laundry detergent pods with some sweetie candies because of their bright-colored wrappings. This resulted in aspiration pneumonia that later caused her death. This tragedy calls for more protective measures to prevent such incidents from happening on a person with demential disorder.
A 93-year-old lady, Elizabeth Van Der-Drift, who had dementia, has unfortunately passed away after mistaking laundry pods for candies. The incident was very tragic and took place on the 19th of March this year. It has raised heated debate on whether some of the products are safe for use by patients with cognitive disorders.
The coroner to take up the case was Ian Potter, who returned a verdict that concluded the death of Elizabeth was because of aspiration pneumonia from eating the laundry pods with the dementia. The laundry pods were a major contributing factor to this sad event; they were very brightly colored and resembled sweets.
A carer associated with the case described the packaging of these pods as “more than a passing resemblance to a bag of sweets.” Therefore, it was not hard for Elizabeth to make a mistake and perceive the pods as candy. Pods were very colorful—pink, orange, yellow, and green—and there was nothing about them that would make them hard to mistake as sweets.
Coroner Potter said that while there were regulations in place to stop items that resembled food from going on sale, these appeared mainly to relate to the protection of children. He added that not enough was done to highlight the dangers to people suffering from dementia or other conditions which affect cognitive ability.
“Bright, eye-catching colors” are in many packaging, he said, which are misplaced by people who sometimes can’t clearly see what they are viewing. He believed that contacting the manufacturers to warn them would not be enough in this case, rather, in his view something more general should be done to eliminate these risks.
He accepted that the Food Imitations (Safety) Regulations 1989 were put in place to stop products which could be mistaken for food from being sold. As Potter pointed out, such regulations have children in mind but do not consider the dangers for people with dementia. He did so while criticizing not only the regulations per se but also their application, which he felt needed an update or enforcement to protect all vulnerable groups.
Elizabeth had lived with dementia for years and would forget when she last ate. Sometime between the 13th and 14th of March, she accessed the laundry pods and thought that they were sweets. She bit into at least one of the brightly colored pods and eventually died of aspiration pneumonia.
Shortly after the pods were ingested, Elizabeth complained of stomach pains and having difficulty breathing. Although an ambulance was called, despite hospitalization and all medical intervention, she died some days later. An accidental death verdict was recorded at the inquest.
A PFD report was issued on this account. It was communicated to a number of key persons, including the Chief Executive of the Office for Product Safety and Standards, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the Director-General of the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association. The reason for sending these reports to these high-positioned persons is to make them aware so that they do something to help stop similar deaths from occurring in the future.
It requires recipients of the PFD report to respond no later than October 8, outlining any action they intend to take or why none will be taken. This deadline targets ensuring that issues thrown out by the report are dealt with as quickly as possible.
It is a case that brings into sharp focus the drive to improve safety measures and regulations against dangerous products, not just for children but for adults with cognitive impairments. The case stands as a reminder that, while designing the packaging of any product, consideration should be given to all users, especially those who may have trouble distinguishing between safe and dangerous objects.
This therefore acts as a horrible reminder that, with the death of Elizabeth Van Der-Drift, clear and safe product packaging should be adhered to. This also shows that regulations update and enforcement are needed to protect the most vulnerable members in our society.
