A coroner has called for redesign of washing machine tablets after a Primrose Hill pensioner with dementia died from eating one of pods, accidentally believing it was a sweet.
Elizabeth Van Der-Drift, 93, had gone in search of food when she is believed to have bitten into at least one of the detergent pods, and shortly afterwards she complained of stomach pains and shortness of breath.
The pensioner was rushed to hospital by ambulance on March 14 this year, but died five days later from pneumonia and ingestion of the laundry detergent.
Assistant Coroner Ian Potter, sitting at Inner North London coroner’s court, has now called for an overhaul of the way washing machine tablets are packaged, as well as the look of the pods themselves, to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.
After an inquest, he concluded Ms Van Der-Drift – who often struggled due to her dementia to recall if she had eaten and regularly went in search of food – had found the tablets and “believed that they were some form of sweet or confectionary”.
He said the packaging was “predominantly bright pink and white, with orange, yellow and green also present”, and had a “passing resemblance to a bag of sweets”.
“The packaging of this particular product is not alone among similar products that also opt for bright, eye-catching colours”, he said, in a report aimed at preventing future deaths.
Mr Potter said the risks to children have long been acknowledged, but less so for people with dementia and cognitive impairment.
“In terms of the laundry tablets/pods themselves, I note that these have a jelly-like appearance and again I regard them as being colourful and potentially sweet-like in their appearance”, he continued.
“This again has the serious potential to render a highly toxic or hazardous product as appealing to those with dementia or other cognitive impairment (as well as children).
“There is a wealth of material available (media reports, scientific studies and research etc.) to document the relatively frequency that products of this nature are accidentally or inadvertently ingested.”
He suggested regulations could be tightened to protect those who might accidentally eat the pods, and added: “The overarching concern here is that laundry tablets/pods and their packaging are being produced in a way that, by virtue of their bright colouring, appearance, and packaging, are being confused with food by people living with dementia or other cognitive impairment.
“The issue is, in my opinion, compounded when one considers that the products themselves are far from innocuous in the event of their accidental ingestion.”
Mr Potter also said the packaging he had viewed was not difficult to open which “only adds to the risks”.
His report has been sent to the Office for Product Safety and Standards, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, and the director general of the UK Cleaning Product Industry Association. All three are expected to respond to the concerns by early October.
The Coroner ruled Ms Van Der-Drift’s death was accidental, and found the causes were aspiration pneumonia, ingestion of toxic substance (laundry detergent), and dementia.
