‘Worst-case scenario’ should be assumed for poisonings: coroner

The coroner began the inquest after the man’s family expressed concern about the open bottle of sanitiser found in his bathroom, and over concerns about the man’s care immediately after consuming the liquid.

In his findings, Mr McDougall found that a cleaner accidentally left an open bottle of sanitiser in the man’s bathroom after using it to kill ants on November 21, 2014.

Later that afternoon, a carer went into the elderly man’s room and found him “coughing and salivating” in the bathroom. The carer noticed the open spray bottle of sanitiser and asked another carer for help.

The elderly man, who had dementia, could not tell the nurses what happened but “kept saying ‘it is burning’,” the coroner said.

A registered nurse called the Poisons…