by An investigation found that a 13-year-old girl with a severe milk allergy suffered an “immediate reaction” after taking a sip of Costa Coffee hot chocolate that was supposed to contain soya.
Hannah Jacobs, from Barking, east London, suffered from a milk allergy and had practiced “complete avoidance” since childhood. She died hours after consuming the takeaway drink ordered by her mother, Abimbola Duyile, on February 8, 2022.
“I made sure that the employees [were] “I was aware that this was not a joke,” Duyile told the East London Coroner’s Court on Monday, adding that she had been “particularly fussy” and precise in making the order and that she “may have sounded like a crazy mother.”
Duyile said she had to “be honest with the staff” before the drink was prepared, she explained, adding that the waiter agreed to have the jug cleaned because Hanna has a severe cow’s milk allergy. At that point, “Hannah was busy scolding me for being picky,” she added.
When she arrived at the dentist, a short walk away, Hannah suddenly stood up and went to the toilet, screaming, “That wasn’t soy milk,” Duyile recalled. She said her daughter’s reaction was “quick,” as she coughed up mucus and complained of chest pain. Hannah was taken to the nearby pharmacy as her lips and mouth were swollen and her daughter was itchy.
“My first reaction was anger at the Costa Coffee staff,” said Duyile. “Then it was clouded by panic.”
At the pharmacy, a pharmacist gave Hannah an EpiPen injection in the leg after she collapsed, the court heard. Resuscitation attempts were initiated and later continued by paramedics who arrived shortly after a customer called. Hannah was taken to hospital and pronounced dead at around 1pm, her family’s lawyers said.
Duyile said her daughter avoided milk, eggs, wheat and fish to manage her allergies and was “careful” about what she ate outside the home. Hannah understood that “dealing with her allergies is just a part of life,” Duyile said, adding that her daughter never eats at friends’ homes and only eats at “known and trusted” restaurants.
An early dose of adrenaline may have been crucial to Hannah’s treatment and, as she weighed 47kg and was a teenager, she would have needed more than 150mcg, the court heard. Dr Rahul Chodhari, who was involved in the treatment of Hannah’s allergies, said that while it was difficult to predict, “150mcg was certainly too low a dose”.
When asked by the coroner whether Hannah would have survived if she had received an intramuscular injection of adrenaline within nine minutes of consuming the drink and leaving the dentist, Dr. Chodhari said, “Yes.”
“She would have been a great lawyer,” Duyile said in tribute to her daughter.[She] had a strong sense of right and wrong. If she thought something was unfair, she would speak her mind, no matter what.”
She remembered Hannah cleaning the house and taking care of her sister without being asked. On her sister’s birthday, Duyile recalled, Hannah put on latex gloves to cook eggs for her sister as a surprise, even though Hannah was allergic.
“I know she would have achieved anything she set her mind to. I loved my child so much and it breaks my heart,” Duyile said.
The investigation is expected to last six days.
