A difficult-to-understand mistake occurred in a nursing home in California, USA, which cost the life of a client (†93) suffering from dementia. The pensioner died after ingesting the cleaning agent given to her by the staff of the facility. The police are now investigating how the tragic mistake occurred, ABC News reports. Gertrude Elizabeth Maxwell lived in a nursing home in San Mateo, California, which is located near San Francisco. Towards the end of her life, she suffered from dementia and was unable to perform even basic needs. Caregivers had to feed her and take care of her drinking regime. “For a lot of people, including my mother, you have to hold the glass to your mouth and tilt it,” said the pensioner’s daughter, Marcia Cutchin. This eventually became fatal for the woman. Investigators are working with the version according to which there was a mix-up of fluids. One of the employees apparently mistakenly poured detergent into the woman’s glass instead of grape juice. The senior facility has suspended the suspected employees pending an investigation. “We are working with the local authorities who have informed us that one of our clients has died. We express our sincere condolences to the family,” said a representative of the facility. California has been grappling with a recent spike in nursing home deaths. Most of them are to blame for the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to which it turned out that the problem also lies in the insufficient qualifications of many employees of these facilities. “We have a lot of problems here that people have been complaining about for a long time. The pandemic is an opportunity to start solving those problems. Some may not have occurred if nursing homes employed qualified people,” commented Charlene Harrington, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at the University of San Francisco.