Missing mother, 84, was stuck in NHS toilet for 12 hours
A WOMAN of 84 was trapped in a hospital toilet for 12 hours overnight after doctors discharged her and “left her to her own devices”.
Janina Borasinski had been taken to hospital after she was unable to get out of bed.
Her son Chris, 62, “feared worst” after his mother did arrive home that night.
Hours later, police recorded her as missing and the family faced an agonising wait for information.
A hospital cleaner found shaken Mrs Borasinski next morning in a toilet cubical near the Accident and Emergency department.
She had been unable to reach the emergency alarm because her legs were not “working properly”.
Son Chris said: “I could not believe that my mum would have just wandered off like that.
“She wasn’t properly dressed and she didn’t have her handbag with her. How can you lose a patient?
“She was quite poorly. Try to imagine how it was for a woman to be locked in a toilet unable to get out, with no water or food. She must have been in a terrible state.”
Chris had flown to Britain from his home in Germany after his mother called him to say she was stuck in bed on Saturday morning.
Paramedics were called to her home in Croydon, south London, and she was taken to Croydon University Hospital.
But by the time Chris arrived that night, his mother had been discharged and staff were unable to say where she had gone.
He said: “We tried to find the not out what had happened but we got no information from the hospital.
“From what my mother has told me, they said she could go home and she was left to her own devices.
“If someone is missing, at that stage it should ring alarm bells.”
Mrs Borasinski was readmitted to the hospital earlier this week for tests to determine why she fell ill.
Doctors are also assessing whether she has suffered any effects of being locked in the toilet cubicle for so long.
A Croydon Health Services NHS Trust spokesman said: “We are speaking to the family and are investigating what happened.
“Our findings will be shared with the family first and we cannot release further details until this is concluded.”