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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Teaching assistant mistook tragic schoolboy's allergic reaction for stomach bug because he was 'sick quite often'
A teaching assistant who mistook a highly intelligent schoolboy's allergic reaction for a stomach bug didn't know he was dying as he was 'sick quite often'. Benedict Blythe, 5, vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in Stamford, Lincolnshire, on December 1, 2021. The 'kind-souled' child, who joined the high-IQ society Mensa when he was aged just four, was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts and had asthma, an inquest was told. A jury at Peterborough Town Hall heard Benedict was kept home from school because of illness the day before the tragic incident. The five-year-old died in hospital and his cause of death was later found to be food-induced anaphylaxis, the inquest heard. He had been kept off school the previous day because he was feeling unwell overnight and vomited, but woke up 'in good health' on the day of his death and was excited to open his advent calendar which had been filled with dairy-free chocolate by his parents, the court heard. Sophie Brown, who was a teaching assistant at the school, said from her memory Benedict was 'sick quite often' and she asked him questions after he vomited the first time that day to check if it was an allergic reaction. She told the inquest: 'When I said "are you feeling OK?" he said "good". He said "no" to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.' Ms Brown, who was trained in first aid and was aware of the boy's allergies, said Benedict changed his clothes before he vomited a second time 10 minutes later. Speaking about the minutes between Benedict vomiting the first and second time, she told the jury: 'He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.' Ms Brown told the inquest: 'He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.' The teaching assistant added she did not know at the time why he had been kept home from school the previous day. The court heard milk for the pupils was kept in two separate fridges - one for dairy milk and one for dairy-free milk - in a staff room at the school, and that Benedict had his own bottle at the school to drink from. Ms Brown said she does not recall who gave Benedict his oat milk that morning, which he refused to drink, but said it was not her. The teaching assistant told the jury she could not remember whether Benedict had asked for his inhaler after he had vomited. The inquest previously heard, from Benedict's mother Helen Blythe, that vomiting was 'always' the first symptom of his allergic reactions and the school was provided with a management plan with his usual symptoms. The court heard that after Benedict collapsed, his adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered twice but he became unresponsive and was transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died. Speaking about her son at a previous hearing, Ms Blythe had said: 'Quick-minded, and kind-souled, Benedict's love of 'playing numbers' was one hint to why he joined Mensa when he was four. 'He collected numbers like other children collect toy cars and would bubble over with excitement when he could work out something new.' The inquest has been adjourned until Wednesday morning.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Teaching assistant thought boy's fatal allergic reaction was sickness bug
A teaching assistant thought a five-year-old boy who was having a fatal allergic reaction had a stomach bug when he vomited at school, an inquest has heard. A jury at Peterborough town hall heard Benedict Blythe was kept home from school because of illness the day before he vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School, in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where he was a reception pupil, on Dec 1 2021. The schoolboy, who joined Mensa when he was aged four, had asthma and was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts, the inquest was told. He died in hospital that day and his cause of death was later found to be food-induced anaphylaxis, the inquest heard. He had been kept off school the day before he died because he was feeling unwell overnight and vomited, but woke up 'in good health' on the day of his death, the court heard. Sophie Brown, who was a teaching assistant at the school, said from her memory Benedict was 'sick quite often', and she asked him questions after he vomited the first time that day to check if it was an allergic reaction. She told the inquest: 'When I said 'are you feeling OK?' he said 'good'. He said 'no' to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.' Ms Brown, who was trained in first aid and was aware of the boy's allergies, said Benedict changed his clothes before he vomited a second time, 10 minutes later. Speaking about the minutes between Benedict vomiting the first and second time, she told the jury: 'He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.' Ms Brown told the inquest: 'He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.' She told the inquest she did not know at the time why he had been kept home from school the previous day. The court heard milk for the pupils was kept in two separate fridges – one for dairy milk and one for dairy-free milk – in a staff room at the school, and that Benedict had his own bottle at the school to drink from. Ms Brown said she does not recall who gave Benedict his oat milk that morning, which he refused to drink, but said it was not her. The teaching assistant told the jury she could not remember whether Benedict had asked for his inhaler after he had vomited. Helen Blythe, Benedict's mother, previously told the inquest vomiting was 'always' the first symptom of his allergic reactions, and that the school was provided with a management plan with his usual symptoms. The court heard that after Benedict collapsed, his adrenaline auto-injector was administered twice, but he became unresponsive and was transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died. The inquest continues.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Teaching assistant thought allergic boy had sickness bug, inquest hears
A teaching assistant thought a five-year-old boy who was having a fatal allergic reaction had a stomach bug when he vomited at school, an inquest has heard. A jury at Peterborough Town Hall heard that Benedict Blythe was kept home from school because of illness the day before he vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School, in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where he was a reception pupil, on December 1 2021. The schoolboy, who joined Mensa when he was aged four, was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts and had asthma, the inquest was told. He died in hospital that day and his cause of death was later found to be food-induced anaphylaxis, the inquest heard. He had been kept off school the day before he died because he was feeling unwell overnight and vomited, but woke up 'in good health' on the day of his death and was excited to open his advent calendar which had been filled with dairy-free chocolate by his parents, the court heard. Sophie Brown, who was a teaching assistant at the school, said from her memory Benedict was 'sick quite often' and she asked him questions after he vomited the first time that day to check if it was an allergic reaction. She told the inquest: 'When I said 'are you feeling OK?' he said 'good'. He said 'no' to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.' Ms Brown, who was trained in first aid and was aware of the boy's allergies, said Benedict changed his clothes before he vomited a second time 10 minutes later. Speaking about the minutes between Benedict vomiting the first and second time, she told the jury: 'He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.' Ms Brown told the inquest: 'He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.' She told the inquest she did not know at the time why he had been kept home from school the previous day. The court heard milk for the pupils was kept in two separate fridges – one for dairy milk and one for dairy-free milk – in a staff room at the school, and that Benedict had his own bottle at the school to drink from. Ms Brown said she does not recall who gave Benedict his oat milk that morning, which he refused to drink, but said it was not her. The teaching assistant told the jury she cannot remember whether Benedict had asked for his inhaler after he had vomited. The inquest previously heard, from Benedict's mother Helen Blythe, that vomiting was 'always' the first symptom of his allergic reactions and the school was provided with a management plan with his usual symptoms. The court heard that after Benedict collapsed, his adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered twice but he became unresponsive and was transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died. The inquest has been adjourned until Wednesday morning.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
School staff in tears over Stamford boy's allergy death
Teaching assistants fought back tears as they gave evidence at an inquest into how a five-year-old boy died after suffering an allergic reaction at Blythe, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, was administered with an adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) and given CPR after he had been sick two times and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in December assistant Sophie Brown told the inquest Benedict was off school the day before "so I assumed it was a bug" rather than an allergic Back, who was a 16-year-old apprentice teaching assistant on the day of Benedict's death, cried as, supported by her grandmother, she told she was aware of his allergies. Benedict had asthma and a number of allergies, including milk and eggs. He died due to food-induced two of the two-week inquest into Benedict's death was held at Peterborough City Hall on Tuesday. Ms Back said she was aware of Benedict's allergies and knew where to find the medical bag in the classroom."I knew if I needed that I would find it", she told the inquest, as she cried with her grandmother sitting alongside her as she gave Emelia Wawrzkowicz, a consultant paediatrician at Peterborough City Hospital who worked with Benedict on his allergies, told the inquest on Monday "he always needed to have access to adrenaline".Dr Wawrzkowicz said the advice would always be to "if in doubt" administer the AAI if it was suspected someone may be experiencing an allergic reaction, which is the same advice given by Anaphylaxis Brown told the inquest this advice was not conveyed to her as "part of my training".Area coroner Elizabeth Gray told the hearing Benedict had been kept off school on 30 November due to being sick twice the night went back to school on 1 December after Mrs Blythe said he "was fine and didn't appear to be unwell". The inquest heard that, while he was outside with other children during the morning break on 1 December, Benedict had a gingerbread biscuit he had taken with him from Back told the inquest she remembered unwrapping Benedict's biscuit for him and saw him eat it after he had gone to sit with another then returned to the classroom where he was offered oat milk but was said to have refused was sick shortly after that, and his parents were asked to collect him from school at about 10:30 Brown cleaned him up and read a book with him, and said he showed no signs of being sick and was "happy and giggling" before he was sick again. He was taken outside to get some fresh air while his parents were contacted again before he collapsed and was carried back to a adrenaline auto-injector was administered twice by Ms Brown and CPR was started, the inquest Blythe said Benedict's father Peter was there by about 10:40 and she arrived at 10: services attended and carried out further CPR before Benedict was taken to Peterborough City Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:57. 'Exceptionally bright' Mrs Blythe said Benedict was "well aware of his allergies" and a document had been given to the school which contained information on his allergies, his asthma and the reactions he had said vomiting was the "first sign" of an allergic reaction, and "how it played [out] after that varied".Before he started at Barnack Primary, Mrs Blythe said she had gone on two tours of the school and was "reassured by the level of care offered" and "satisfied the school would be able to cope with his allergies".A statement read out on behalf of Benedict's father, 44-year-old Peter Blythe, described Benedict as an "exceptionally bright child" who "spent hours building figure train tracks"."Ben absolutely loved school. He was thriving in the three months he was there."I miss him every day," the statement inquest continues. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
