WEDS PM: Pensioner burnt on care home commode died of natural causes: Inquest

Jun 17 2009 By Andrew Jackson

THE death of an 87-year-old dementia sufferer two months after she suffered burns at the care home where she lived was due to natural causes, a coroner ruled today.

Violet Smith, from Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, suffered 4% burns after she was left on a commode of hot water at The Charlton Centre home in Batley in January 2008.

She was admitted to hospital and given extensive skin grafts, but died at the end of February that year, after developing a chest infection.

The home, run by Charlton Care Homes Ltd, specialised in caring for elderly people with dementia.

In February this year, registered nurse Andrea Garrick and care assistants Jodie Atkinson and Danielle Schofield, who all worked at the home, were cleared of wilfully neglecting Mrs Smith.

At their trial a court heard that Mrs Smith was placed on the commode in an attempt to ease her constipation and haemorrhoids.

Staff noticed reddening, blistering and peeling skin after they moved her and she was taken to Pinderfields Hospital a day later.

Huddersfield Coroner Roger Whittaker recorded a verdict of death by natural causes today, stating that Mrs Smith died from bronchial pneumonia due to dementia.

He said forensic pathologist Professor Christopher Milroy, who conducted the post-mortem on Mrs Smith's body, found that her burns, although "significant", were intact and healing at the time she died.