Family alleges 93-year-old woman poisoned at San Mateo assisted living facility

SAN MATEO, Calif. - The family of a 93-year-old woman who was poisoned and died at an assisted living facility in San Mateo filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging elder abuse and wrongful death.Trudy Maxwell was one of two residents who died in this incident.Maxwell's daughter, Monica, said the purpose of the lawsuit is to shed light on her mother's case.She hopes to prevent this from happening to anyone else."She was a strong woman having had 9 children, the matriarch of the family," Maxwell said as she described her beloved mother as a well-respected member of the community.She said her mom was resilient, bouncing back when she fell and suffered bruises."She would heal from this stuff," Monica Maxell said. "We called her Wolverine because she'd heal herself all the time.

That was the nickname we had for my mom."But there is now anger and sadness at the way Maxwell died Aug. 29. A second elderly person died after ingesting dishwashing liquid at a San Mateo senior living facility.

A wrongful death suit filed by the victim's family says it was a much stronger chemical.The lawsuit comes two days after an employee at Atria, an assisted senior living facility in San Mateo gave her and two other residents a commercial grade cleaning fluid to drink during breakfast."The time we had with her was really, really precious.

Losing her like this and so suddenly was just devastating," said Maxwell. The Maxwell family shared these photos which showed the severe damage they said the detergent did to Maxwell's mouth and throat."They gave her something that was more toxic and more corrosive to her body than Drano would have been," said Niall McCarthy, the family's attorney.