AN INQUEST has been told how a nine-year-old boy with cerebral palsy died five days after he choked on a chicken burger in an isolated ward room in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
Hugh Marshall, from Ballyarnett, Derry, was born in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, in August 1993.
He had been admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital on July 15th, 2003, complaining of abdominal pains. The following day he suffered a sudden collapse during a meal. This led to him suffering seizures and cardiac arrests.
Witnesses told Northern Ireland's senior coroner John L Leckey yesterday that after choking on his hospital meal, Hugh died three days later as a result of broncho-pneumonia, brain damage and cerebral palsy.
The boy's father, Hugh Marshall snr, told the inquest that his son was delighted when he was told that chicken burgers were on the hospital menu.
"He ate the burger. It was one of his favourite meals," he said.
"I cut his burger up because he liked to finger eat. I turned on the television in the ward room to allow him to watch The Simpsons. He had one small piece of burger left. I propped him up in the bed and went for a cup of tea and a smoke. I told a nurse I would be back in 10 to 15 minutes. I had been with Hugh all night and day."
Asked by a barrister for Altnagelvin Hospital if he had left his son with a whole burger, Mr Marshall replied: "Definitely not. I would not have left my son to eat his food on his own, no chance."
However, the nurse who discovered the boy in a distressed state after his meal, told the coroner Hugh had an almost entire burger clenched between his teeth, half inside his mouth and half outside.
Paediatric staff nurse Triona Taylor said she found Hugh on his back with his head tilted backwards. "There was a large piece of a burger and bap sticking out of his mouth. It was almost an entire burger, about four inches across. I tore that part of the burger from Hugh's mouth. His teeth were clenched around it.
"One portion of the burger had been bitten off and was in Hugh's mouth. The burger had not been cut up into small portions. I had to tear the bap from the child's mouth and that is not something you forget very easily," she added.
Asked if it was possible that someone had given Hugh an additional burger in the absence of his father and of medical staff, Ms Taylor said that "would be speculation but it is possible. The food trolley was around at the time."
The coroner said the nurses had come across "this shocking incident where this almost moribund young boy was distressed in bed". Mr Leckey said he was "sorry that five years have passed between that tragic day and the inquest being concluded today".
The coroner found that death was caused by broncho-pneumonia, brain damage and cerebral palsy in accordance with the medical evidence.