A FATHER OF FIVE died after he mistakenly poured washing-up detergent into a bowl of cornflakes instead of milk, an inquest heard.
Tom McDonald was rushed to St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) in Dublin on 9 March 2023 after his daughter realized he had accidentally poisoned himself.
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Tom McDonald died after accidentally pouring laundry detergent on his cornflakes instead of milkCredit: collinsphotos.com
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Aisling O’Grady and her brother Derek McDonald pictured leaving Dublin Coroner’s CourtCredit: collinsphotos.com
“It was so quick – he was perfectly fine and then all of a sudden he was gone,” his second daughter, Aisling O’Grady, told a hearing at Dublin County Coroner’s Court on Thursday, the Irish Examiner reports.
Tom’s daughter, Ailbhe McDonald, had been living with her dad for the previous 19 months after her mom, Viola, moved into a nursing home, her written statement said.
The 92-year-old from Dublin, Ireland, was diagnosed with dementia five years earlier and his condition worsened significantly five months before his death.
Ailbhe said her father would get confused about whether it was day or night and would often get up at odd times for food.
She claimed she heard him making cornflakes in the kitchen around 3:30 a.m. on the night of the fatal incident.
After 20 minutes passed and she didn’t hear him go back to bed, Ailbhe went downstairs to check on him.
When she found him, Tom mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well after eating something.
Ailbhe then noticed the purple detergent in the bowl of cornflakes and her dad confirmed that he had eaten it.
The coroner, Crona Gallagher, heard that Tom complained that he still felt unwell after throwing up a small amount of food and drinking some water.
Ailbhe said her dad was reluctant to go to the hospital, but called 911 30 minutes later when he started complaining of a sore throat and coughing.
End-of-life nurse reveals what it’s really like to die from dementia – and how to spot “falling stairs”
The inquest heard doctors at SVUHl sedated the patient but his condition worsened and he was pronounced dead at 8.50am.
Aisling then gave evidence that her father’s dementia had often varied in severity over the years.
But at the time of his death, the disease was worsening.
Aisling said her dad would eat whatever he found in the fridge because he could no longer prepare his own food.
Tom would eat food from the fridge that had gone bad or expired, she claimed.
WEAKENED SENSE OF TASTE
Although there were no major incidents in the kitchen, such as leaving the oven on, she said her family became concerned about how difficult it was to care for their dad at home.
Aisling said the detergent was not stored “anywhere near the fridge”.
“I didn’t think he would drink something he wasn’t familiar with,” she added.
She claimed that her father would also be able to open the cupboard even if it was fitted with a child lock.
Tom had a diminished sense of taste – a common symptom of dementia – around the time of his death.
That, Aisling said, could be why he didn’t immediately realize he was eating detergent.
The inquest heard he was a retired member of the defense forces who had served in the Congo.
Later in his career he became an accountant.
‘NO ANTIDOTS’
In a statement, John Legge, consultant in emergency medicine at SVUH, said Tom vomited in the ambulance on the way to hospital and was treated as a priority case in the emergency department.
However, he had breathing problems because the detergent affected his lungs as well as his stomach.
Dr John said the National Poisons Information Center had been contacted but doctors had been told there was no antidote for the detergent.
The consultant said Tom’s condition continued to deteriorate, meaning he was unlikely to survive.
The inquest heard that a post-mortem examination confirmed that Tom died of aspiration pneumonitis – an inflammatory reaction in the lungs caused by swallowing detergent.
Dr John said Tom’s dementia and heart disease also contributed to his death.
However, she stated that it was unlikely that he would have died then had he not swallowed the detergent.
The coroner said most laundry detergent bottles carry warnings to avoid contact with eyes and skin, and to keep out of reach of children.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr John said she would bring the highly unusual circumstances of Tom’s death to the attention of the relevant authorities.
The coroner said she had never encountered such a death before.
Is it aging or dementia?
Dementia – the most common form of which is Alzheimer’s disease – comes on slowly over time.
As the disease progresses, symptoms may become more severe.
But at first, symptoms may be subtle or may be mistaken for normal memory problems associated with aging.
The US National Institute on Aging provides some examples of what is considered normal forgetfulness in old age and dementia.
You can refer to these above.
For example, it is normal for an elderly person to forget a word to use from time to time, but difficulty in carrying on a conversation would be more indicative of dementia.
Katie Puckering, head of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Information Services team, previously told The Sun: “As humans quite often we put our car keys in unusual places and it takes us longer to find them.
“As you get older, you need more time to remember, or you really have to think; What was I doing? Where did I stop? What distracted me? Did I have to let the dog out? And then you find the keys by the back door.
“That information retrieval process is just a little slower in people as they get older.
“In dementia, someone may not be able to remember that information and what they were doing when they entered the house.
“It could also happen that they could put him somewhere where he really doesn’t belong. For example, instead of putting the milk back in the fridge, they put the kettle in the fridge.”
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education