Woman with dementia 'suffered burns when carers put her on hot commode'
26 Jan 2009
An 87-year-old woman with dementia suffered third degree burns when care home staff put her on a commode of hot water, a court heard.
Violet Smith was taken to hospital with severe burns to 4 per cent of her body after a registered nurse and two care assistants tried to treat her constipation and haemorrhoids by placing her over the water, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Andrea Garrick, 38, Jodie Atkinson, 22, and Danielle Schofield, 22, are charged with wilfully neglecting Mrs Smith, who had been a patient at the Charlton Centre for Alzheimer's and Dementia, on Carlinghow Hill, in Batley, West Yorkshire, since 2000.
Peter Moulson, opening the case for the prosecution, said Mrs Smith was admitted to hospital the day after the incident, in January 2008, with burns to her bottom, thighs, genitals and anus.
He said she was assessed as having suffered third degree burns to some 4 per cent of her body surface, which deepened to become full-thickness burns within two days.
Mr Moulson told the court the burns were found to be consistent with either immersion in hot water or being placed over a confined area of steam from "exceptionally" hot water.
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