For anyone who's interested, look up "aspiration pneumonia" on whichever medical site or search engine floats your boat. With sedation secondary to sleeping tablets, the body's natural reflexes are diminished. One of these is the gag reflex which prevents you from inhaling liquids and solids. In the presence of vomiting or regurgitation (cf reflux) - both of which are common in institutionalised patients - when the gag reflex is diminished or absent, oral and GIT micro-organisms gain access to the lungs. In institutionalised patients, these organisms are often less treatable than in a community setting, having been exposed to antibiotics and having developed resistance. Strokes affecting certain parts of the brain can also interfere with the gag reflex or with swallowing producing the same result, namely an aspiration pneumonia.

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