Leo Gillick
At 99 years old, an elderly woman, gunning for 100, died because of a cup of tea.
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Margaret Eluned Roberts had already had a pretty good innings. At 99 years old, she was only counting down the days until she hit the century mark and received her letter from the King of England.
But, while sitting in her nursing home in Glan Rhos nursing home in Brynsiencyn, Wales, disaster struck. According to one of the nurses, the 99-year-old elderly woman had asked for a cup of black tea. The nurse brought it to the lady in a two-handled plastic beaker.
Margaret is registered as blind, so extra caution is taken with things like boiling water. The nurse watched the ‘almost’ 100-year-old woman take a little sip of her tea through a straw, then move away. However, just after this, disaster struck.
From another room, the nurse heard Margaret shout in an urgent tone. She had spilt the fatal tea all over herself, causing severe burns. The nurse says she found the elderly woman “distraught with her arms raised. The beaker was upside down, and there was black tea on her trousers.”
Tea Burns Caused Catastrophic Complications
The coroner noted that the elderly woman died from pneumonia and cellulitis secondary to a burn from the tea. However, she had been discharged after the initial event, having been treated for her burns.
After the tea was spilled over the elderly woman, she was admitted to a local hospital. Here, her blisters were lanced and wounds dressed. Although she was in pain, the doctors determined that she was in a stable condition and could be discharged.
However, after the initial tea spill, the elderly lady began developing chest problems. Her body, expending energy on repairing from the burns, had become vulnerable to diseases. She was soon readmitted to the hospital.
Five weeks after her tea burn incident, Margaret passed away from pneumonia. She wasn’t too far away from the 100-year-old milestone she was hoping to hit. “Mam wanted to reach 100 years old. It would have been such a significant milestone for her and for you,” her daughter told the nurses.
