Oregon State Hospital Poison Victims: a Virtual Cemetery

See all by Carrie and Allen

A Virtual Cemetery created by Carrie and Allen

Oregon State Hospital Poison Victims

47 individuals died as a result of accidental poisoning on the night of Wednesday, November 18, 1942. Their supper of scrambled eggs had been unintentionally seasoned with sodium fluoride poison. 2,728 patients were given the eggs, and the first person became ill within 15 minutes of eating them.The following are portions of an article by Kathleen Carlson Clement:"One of the most tragic incidents in Salem's history was the poisoning of nearly 500 patients and staff at the Oregon State Hospital, on the evening of 11/18/1942. Many who ate the scrambled eggs served for dinner that evening would later claim that they had tasted funny... Within five minutes of consuming them, the diners began to sicken, experiencing violent stomach cramps, vomiting, leg cramps, and respiratory paralysis.... The first death came within an hour; by midnight, there were 32; by 4 a.m., 40. Local doctors rushed to the hospital to help out staff doctors. Eventually 47 people would die; in all, 467 were sickened. Though five wards had been served the suspect eggs, all the deaths occurred in four; in the fifth, an attendant had tried the eggs, found them odd tasting, and ordered her charges not to eat them... The day after the poisoning... pathologists determined that the sickness and death had been caused by sodium fluoride, an ingredient in cockroach poison... State Police launched an investigation, and began interviewing staff and patients at the hospital....several days after the poisonings, two cooks at the hospital admitted they knew what happened... they realized soon after the symptoms had struck, but had not come forward for fear of being charged. (The head cook) took responsibility, saying he had been the one to send a patient trustee... to the cellar to get dry milk powder for the scrambled eggs... (The trustee) returned with a tin half-full of powder, an estimated six pounds of which were mixed into the scrambled eggs.... When people had begun getting ill, the cook question the trustee about where he'd found the powder, and discovered he had brought roach poison. District Attorney ... ordered both cooks arrested. A grand jury declined to indict them; the patient... was never charged."Articles in the newspapers detailed the incident and listed the victims.

47 individuals died as a result of accidental poisoning on the night of Wednesday, November 18, 1942.  Their supper of scrambled eggs had been unintentionally seasoned with sodium fluoride poison.  2,728 patients were given the eggs, and the first person became ill within 15 minutes of eating them.The following are portions of an article by Kathleen Carlson Clement:"One of the most tragic incidents in Salem's history was the poisoning of nearly 500 patients and staff at the Oregon State Hospital, on the evening of 11/18/1942. Many who ate the scrambled eggs served for dinner that evening would later claim that they had tasted funny... Within five minutes of consuming them, the diners began to sicken, experiencing violent stomach cramps, vomiting, leg cramps, and respiratory paralysis.... The first death came within an hour; by midnight, there were 32; by 4 a.m., 40. Local doctors rushed to the hospital to help out staff doctors. Eventually 47 people would die; in all, 467 were sickened. Though five wards had been served the suspect eggs, all the deaths occurred in four; in the fifth, an attendant had tried the eggs, found them odd tasting, and ordered her charges not to eat them... The day after the poisoning... pathologists determined that the sickness and death had been caused by sodium fluoride, an ingredient in cockroach poison... State Police launched an investigation, and began interviewing staff and patients at the hospital....several days after the poisonings, two cooks at the hospital admitted they knew what happened... they realized soon after the symptoms had struck, but had not come forward for fear of being charged. (The head cook) took responsibility, saying he had been the one to send a patient trustee... to the cellar to get dry milk powder for the scrambled eggs... (The trustee) returned with a tin half-full of powder, an estimated six pounds of which were mixed into the scrambled eggs.... When people had begun getting ill, the cook question the trustee about where he'd found the powder, and discovered he had brought roach poison. District Attorney ... ordered both cooks arrested. A grand jury declined to indict them; the patient... was never charged."Articles in the newspapers detailed the incident and listed the victims.