Tragic Tom died after pouring detergent over his cornflakes
Inquest told 92-year-old’s dementia had worsened in months before fatal accident
It was so quick.. he was perfectly well and then all of a sudden he is gone
AISLING O’GRADY DUBLIN DISTRICT CORONER’S COURT YESTERDAY
AN elderly dementia sufferer died after mistakenly pouring washing detergent on a bowl of cornflakes instead of milk, an inquest heard.
Father-of-five Tom Mcdonald passed away at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin on March 9, 2023.
Dublin District Coroner’s Court yesterday heard the 92-year-old had been diagnosed with dementia five years earlier with the condition getting noticeably worse in the months before his death.
In a written statement, his daughter Ailbhe Mcdonald said she had been living with her father for the previous 19 months after her mother, Viola, had moved to live in a nursing home.
She added Mr Mcdonald, from The Elms, Donnybrook, Dublin, would get very confused about time and whether it was day or night.
He would often get up in the middle of the night for food and on the day of the fatal incident she heard him getting cornflakes in the kitchen at 3.30am.
She checked on him after 20 minutes and found him downstairs saying he felt unwell.
Ms Mcdonald said she then noticed some purple detergent in a bowl of cornflakes and her father confirmed he had eaten its contents. Coroner Crona
Gallagher heard Mr Mcdonald was reluctant to go to hospital but his daughter called an ambulance 30 minutes later as he was complaining of a sore throat and coughing.
Doctors sedated the patient but his condition deteriorated and he was pronounced dead at 8.50am.
Another daughter of the deceased, Aisling O’grady, gave evidence that her father’s dementia and Alzheimer’s fluctuated with good and bad periods.
In response to questions from Dr Gallagher she said he would have eaten anything he found in the fridge, even if it was off, as he was no longer able to cook for himself.
DIFFICULT
While there had been no dangerous incidents such as leaving a cooker or oven on, she said her family were getting concerned over how it was becoming more difficult to care for him at home.
Ms O’grady said the detergent was stored in a low cupboard next to a dishwasher and “nowhere near the
SHOCKED fridge.” She added: “I didn’t think he would have drunk something he was not familiar with.”
She claimed her father would have been well able to open the cupboard if it had been fitted with a child lock.
Ms O’grady said his sense of taste had weakened which might have been why he was not immediately aware he had poured detergent on his cornflakes.
The inquest heard Mr Mcdonald was a retired member of the Defence Forces and later worked as an accountant.
Ms O’grady admitted she had been shocked by the speed at which he died after swallowing the detergent.
She said: “It was so quick. He was perfectly well and then all of a sudden he is gone.”
In a statement, John Legge, a consultant in emergency medicine at SVUH, said Mr Mcdonald had vomited in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and was treated as a priority case in the emergency department.
However, he had problems with his breathing as the detergent had affected his lungs as well as his stomach.
Dr Legge said advice was sought from the National Poisons Information Centre but doctors were informed there was no antidote. They continued to support the patient’s breathing but his condition deteriorated further.
A postmortem confirmed Mr Mcdonald had died from aspiration pneumonitis – an inflammatory reaction in the lungs which resulted from the ingestion of the detergent.
Dr Gallagher said the deceased’s dementia and heart disease were also contributory factors.
However, she stated he was unlikely to have died at that time if he had not ingested the detergent.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Gallagher said she would bring the very unusual circumstances to the attention of the relevant authorities.
She added bodies such as the HSE and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland may already be aware of such a risk but it was something that families providing care should also know about.