An inquest into the death of 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs will begin next week to investigate the circumstances surrounding a suspected allergic reaction to a Costa Coffee drink.
Hannah, from Barking in East London, died on February 8 last year after a suspected anaphylactic reaction to a hot chocolate.
Her mother ordered a soy milk hot chocolate for Hannah and herself from the local branch before they went to the dentist.
Hannah had a severe allergy to dairy, eggs, fish and wheat, which had been diagnosed at a young age and the family had managed well for the rest of her life.
According to law firm Leigh Day, Hannah’s mother informed Costa’s barista about her daughter’s dairy allergy.
Hannah, from Barking in East London, died on February 8 last year after a suspected anaphylactic reaction to a hot chocolate sold by Costa Coffee
But when Hannah took a sip of the drink in the dentist’s waiting room, she immediately told her mother that the drink was not made with soy milk.
The pair then rushed to a nearby pharmacy to seek help, where staff gave Hannah an EpipPen, an emergency treatment designed to combat a life-threatening allergic reaction.
But despite this and the fact that an ambulance arrived shortly afterwards to take her to hospital, resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful.
Hannah was pronounced dead at 1pm that day.
The inquest will take place on Monday at East London Coroner’s Court.
It is expected to last a week and will use the testimonies of eleven witnesses and experts to investigate how Hannah died.
Costa Coffee has been asked for comment.
Experts estimate that 10 Britons die each year from an allergic reaction to food, and 5,000 people are hospitalised due to serious reactions.
The latest government figures show that around 2.4 million adults in the UK are living with a food allergy, with hospital admissions for serious reactions having more than tripled in the past 20 years.
Allergies can cause a variety of symptoms, but the most serious is a dangerous inflammation of the airways, also called anaphylaxis.
This can make it difficult or even impossible to breathe and the body can go into cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen.
Children with allergies are at greater risk of severe reactions because they are smaller and small amounts of allergens can cause more severe reactions.
Allergies are often discovered in childhood, meaning parents may not have an emergency injection on hand if an allergic reaction occurs.
Relatives of people who have lost a child to allergic reactions have repeatedly called for the appointment of an Allergy Inspector by the government to improve NHS services and awareness of allergies, and prevent avoidable health problems and deaths.
Recently, more than 50 campaigners and experts, including the former Towie star, Megan McKenna and Love Island’s Jack Fowler said the country is not doing enough to support the millions of Britons living with allergies.
In the open letter, the coalition wrote that the lack of a national leader on allergies has been raised “time and again by coroners at inquests” of people who have died from serious reactions, including to products they thought were safe.
Yet, out of the 45 such leaders Although NHS England has a team dedicated to covering issues ranging from obesity to autism, there is none dedicated to supporting people with allergies.
