From swallowing dentures to inhaling gloves - horror causes of death in two healthcare facilities

The fatalities took place in a hospital and a nursing home, and both involved patients who were neurologically impaired

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Darragh Mc Donagh

05:00, 18 Aug 2026

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One of the deaths happened at a nursing home (stock image)(Image: Getty)

An elderly man choked to death on a plastic glove and a woman died after swallowing her own dentures in a pair of bizarre incidents that occurred in healthcare settings, autopsies have revealed.

The fatalities took place in a hospital and a nursing home, and both involved patients who were neurologically impaired. The causes of death were unclear prior to post-mortem examinations.

The male patient was aged in his 80s and was suffering from advanced dementia when he was admitted to hospital in Japan, where he was accommodated in a bed located 70cm from a table on which plastic gloves were left.

He managed to reach the gloves through the bed rail and was found unresponsive with a plastic glove in his mouth. Emergency resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful and a scope inserted in his throat detected no other foreign body.

However, a CT scan performed 33 hours after his death revealed a folded plastic glove extending from his windpipe into both lungs, which had completely choked his airway and caused him to suffocate.

The authors of a report published in the Legal Medicine journal noted that CPR attempts may actually have caused the glove to lodge deeper in his respiratory system, resulting in an 85% narrowing of his right main bronchus and 70% of his left.

This case highlights the rare phenomenon of fatal glove ingestion in a cognitively impaired inpatient which was missed during clinical evaluation and resuscitation, they wrote, emphasising the importance of controlling access to soft, pliable objects in care environments.

In the second case, a 60-year-old woman residing in a Serbian nursing facility was transferred to the hospital following an acute clinical deterioration. She had previously suffered a stroke and was paralysed on one side of her body, as well as experiencing swallowing difficulties.

Although abdominal scans revealed no abnormality on admission, the patient died shortly afterwards. An autopsy revealed severe inflammation caused by a 3mm perforation of her bowel that had been caused by her lower dentures, which were impacted nearby.

The authors of the report in the same journal explained that reduced sensitivity on the palate and impaired swallowing reflexes associated with dental appliances can lead to unnoticed ingestion.

The report speculated that the woman may have been unable to communicate or tell staff that her dentures were missing or that she was experiencing internal discomfort prior to her death.

Small bowel perforation caused by an ingested dental prosthesis is an uncommon but potentially fatal complication, they wrote, noting that communication deficits may have delayed clinical diagnosis.

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