A 13-year-old with severe dairy allergy dies after eating a Coast Coffee, hot chocolate, after a ‘failure to follow the processes’, a judicial investigation has revealed.
Hannah Jacobs, from Barking in East London, suffered a suspected anaphylactic reaction to the drink in February last year after taking just one sip.
She had a severe allergy to dairy, eggs, fish and wheat, which had been diagnosed at a young age and her family had managed well for the rest of her life.
According to law firm Leigh Day, Hannah’s mother told the barista that her daughter was allergic.
But assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe today concluded there was also a “poor communication” between the coffee shop staff and Hannah’s mother.
Hannah Jacobs, from Barking in East London, suffered a suspected anaphylactic reaction to the drink after taking a sip in February last year
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 (stock image)
Dr Radcliffe said: ‘The main cause of this death is a failure to follow procedures to discuss allergies, combined with poor communication between the mother and the barista.’
The coroner also noted that on the day of her death, “neither Hannah nor her mother had the prescribed EpiPen with them.”
An autopsy revealed that Hannah had died of a hypersensitivity anaphylactic reaction, caused by an ingredient in her hot chocolate that triggered an allergic reaction.
On February 8, 2023, her mother ordered a hot chocolate for Hannah and herself from their local Costa before heading to a dentist appointment.
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 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.
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE, co-founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the UK food allergy charity, commented on the research findings:
‘It has been heartbreaking to hear in recent days about the series of mistakes and missed opportunities that led to the death of schoolgirl Hannah Jacobs from a food allergy.
‘This is yet another food allergy death that should never have happened. It was completely preventable.
‘We need urgent government action to raise awareness in schools, businesses and the wider community that food allergies can be serious, unpredictable health conditions and not a lifestyle choice. We also need to ensure that people with allergies have access to integrated and timely allergy care from the NHS.
‘Today, alongside Hannah’s heartbroken mother Abi, and on behalf of other parents who have lost a child to food allergies, we are once again urging the government to appoint an Allergy Tsar: a national champion for the one in three people who live not just with food allergies, but with all types of allergic conditions, including asthma and eczema.
‘We wrote to ministers asking them to talk to us about the crucial issue of allergy deaths and the urgent need for an Allergy Tsar, and were disappointed to hear that they were too busy.
‘Today, in light of Hannah’s case and the urgent need to take action, we have written again to Ministers requesting an urgent meeting. We hope that they will recognise the urgency of this situation and come up with a more positive response.
‘How many more children have to die before we take food allergies seriously?’