Joan Blaber, 85, died in her hospital bed after drinking cleaning fluid that may have been ‘mistaken for orange juice’
A pensioner died in her hospital bed after drinking cleaning fluid that may have been ‘mistaken for orange juice’.
Police are investigating the death of Joan Blaber, 85, to determine whether a crime was committed by an NHS staff member who gave her the drink.
They have so far interviewed 75 people at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
The victim’s son Gary, 61, and other members of the family are demanding to know how ‘such a tragic mistake’ could have happened on an NHS ward.
Mrs Blaber, whose husband Leslie died aged 74 in 2002, drank the poisonous liquid after it was left near her bed in a drinks jug, according to one account.
Details of the case emerged yesterday as a coroner opened an inquest into her death.
A union source claimed a member of the hospital’s staff mistook the orange fluid for juice and poured a glass for Mrs Blaber.
The source added: ‘I would have thought that the solution would have looked strange but it was 10pm and the lights would have been low.’
It is believed the cleaning liquid triggered a heart attack.
In a statement released last night, Mrs Blaber’s family said: ‘It is hoped the inquest will lead to a thorough investigation into the circumstances of what happened, and an explanation as to how such a tragic mistake can have occurred in modern-day healthcare, which the family believe resulted in Joan’s premature death.’
At the opening of the inquest, the coroner was told a major investigation was under way.
Mrs Blaber, from Lewes, East Sussex, was admitted to the hospital in August after she suffered a stroke.
She was recovering and being treated for long-standing leg ulcers when, just under a month after being admitted, she drank the liquid.
Mrs Blaber died six days later.She had been in regular contact with her son Gary, a former postman, who lived nearby.
Police are investigating the death of the pensioner to determine whether a crime was committed by an NHS staff member who gave her the drink. They have so far interviewed 75 people at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton
If Mrs Blaber’s death is found to have been caused by criminal negligence or any other unlawful act, her family could claim damages from the hospital.
The coroner’s court in Brighton heard yesterday that Sussex Police, the NHS, the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Safety Executive were all looking into the death.
Detective Inspector Julie Wakeford, of Sussex Police, said officers were interviewing a large number of staff, patients and visitors who were at the hospital around the time Mrs Blaber died.
She added: ‘We have been making contact with a number of staff at the hospital – 75 so far.’ The detective said officers were also contacting patients and visitors who were on the same ward at the time and still had to speak to ten people.
No cause of death has been recorded by coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley as a pathology investigation is continuing.
The spokesman for the Blaber family said last night: ‘Pending the outcome of the police investigation and the inquest, the family do not propose to make any further statement at this time and request that their privacy be respected.’
A source at the hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘It is a really big police investigation. There was orange-coloured “juice” next to the patient’s bed on the ward.
‘But they think maybe a cleaner or someone left it there and it wasn’t orange juice but orange-coloured cleaning fluid, and the woman has died.’