Death of London woman after consuming detergent capsules triggers coroner's warning | London

A coroner has issued a warning after a 93-year-old woman with dementia died after eating toxic washing powder capsules which she may have mistaken for sweets due to their colourful packaging.

Elizabeth Van Der Drift died on March 19 this year from a combination of aspiration pneumonia, ingestion of the laundry detergent tablets and dementia. A carer at the inquest into her death said the packaging of the capsules “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 product safety regulations may not “adequately take into account” the risks to people with dementia.

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 “bright, eye-catching colours” of these capsules are an “industry-wide phenomenon”, said the coroner, who works in inner north London.

Therefore, it would be “short-sighted” to send the warning directly to the individual manufacturers of the affected capsules, he said. 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's 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.

Der-Drift lived with dementia for “several years” and regularly could not remember the last time she had eaten, he said. She often went “in search of something to eat” and on March 13 or 14 “gained access to laundry detergent tablets [or] I ate the brightly colored pods and “bit into at least one of them,” he said.

The product was described as “predominantly bright pink and white, but also orange, yellow and green.” The container also had no “obvious design feature” that would make it difficult for someone with “even the most basic manual dexterity” to access the “potentially sweet” capsules, he said.

Shortly after consuming the product, Der-Drift complained of stomach pain and shortness of breath. An ambulance was called and she died in hospital a few days later. The investigation found that her death was an accident.

Recipients of the PFD must respond to the report by 8 October of this year, providing details of the action taken or planned, or reasons for no action, unless the Coroner extends the deadline.