London woman’s death after eating laundry pods prompts coroner’s warning

Elizabeth Van Der-Drift, 93, who had dementia, died in March. Photograph: handout

A coroner has issued a warning after a 93-year-old woman with dementia died after eating toxic laundry capsules she may have mistaken for sweets because of their bright packaging.

Elizabeth Van Der-Drift died from a combination of aspiration pneumonia, ingesting the laundry tablets, and dementia on 19 March this year. A carer told the inquest into her death that the capsules’ packaging “bore more than a passing resemblance to a bag of sweets”, according to a prevention of future deaths report (PFD).