By Canadian Press

Grilled cheese under the microscope in Quebec after seniors’ choking deaths

Jul 29, 2019 | 12:13 PM

MONTREAL — Health officials in Quebec are revisiting the place of the grilled cheese sandwich on menus in care facilities following the choking deaths of at least two elderly residents.

A coroner concluded earlier this year that the sandwich appears to pose a particular choking risk to the elderly after two residents of the same St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., care home died in similar circumstances.

Coroner Andre-H. Dandavino recommended that both the local health authority and the provincial Health Department review the risks associated with grilled cheese sandwiches following the deaths of Clemence Thibodeau in 2015 and Monique Leboeuf in 2012.

Thibodeau, who was 78 and suffered from a long list of health problems, died in hospital the day after getting part of a sandwich stuck in her throat at the care home where she lived.

The Quebec Health Department says it is heeding the coroner’s recommendations and is finishing a comprehensive review of the risks of choking on food in the province’s network of facilities.

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A spokesperson says the department isn’t focusing on grilled cheese in particular but rather on wider measures to reduce choking and improve patient safety.

The Canadian Press