5-year-old boy died after 'accidental' exposure to milk at school despite allergy
An inquiry into the death of a British child, who endured a fatal anaphylactic reaction to cow's milk in 2021, has found that staff at his school did not do enough to prevent his passing.
Benedict Blythe, a five-year-old from Stamford, Lincolnshire, tragically died in 2021 after collapsing at Barnack Primary School.
He'd vomited twice just minutes earlier, and was subsequently rushed to a nearby hospital. There, Blythe sadly passed away in the arms of his heartbroken parents.
It was later determined that the boy had gone into anaphylactic shock after accidentally being exposed to an allergen. As well as allergies to eggs, nuts and kiwi fruit, Blythe was also deadly allergic to cow's milk.
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As such, his mother and father worked with his primary school to put a 'number of preventative measures' in place for the child, as per the BBC.
This included a personal allergy action plan, as well as a specific process for storing, preparing and supplying him with oat milk as an alternative.
The special drink was labelled with Blythe's name, and stored in the staff fridge, before a member of staff would bring it into his classroom, and pour it directly into his cup.
On the day of his death, however, the child came into contact with cow's milk protein, after a teacher poured the drink in the staff room, as opposed to the classroom. As such, Blythe was sent into shock, and sadly died.
An inquest was subsequently arranged after the schoolboy's mother, Helen Blythe, claimed her son's death had been 'preventable and caused by a cascade of failures'.
And following a six-day investigation at Peterborough Town Hall this week, a jury sided with the grieving mum, agreeing that the school's staff did not follow the proper precautions.
Jurors firstly ruled that staff at the educational facility had been delayed in administering an adrenalin pen when Blythe first went into shock.
"We deem the probable source of the allergen that caused the fatal anaphylaxis is the ingestion of cow's milk protein," a spokesperson for the jury explained. "Most probably from his own receptacle during break time."
Officials also ruled that opportunities had been missed to review 'lessons learned' from previous incidents, one of which saw Blythe served pizza at lunch time earlier that year, which caused him to be sick.
Adding of the handful of factors that contributed to the child's death, jurors said these included 'opportunities for cross-contamination or mix-up of milk, his allergy plan not being shared and distributed to teaching staff, and a late identification of his symptoms and treatment'.
A representative for the UK's Department of Education also issued a statement following this week's verdict.
"What happened to Benedict was a tragedy for his family and deeply affected all those involved on the day that he died," it read.
"The Department for Education was represented at the inquest, and will consider the jury's conclusions carefully."
Rhianna Benson