She urged for greater awareness of allergic reactions
The mum of a 13-year-old girl with a severe dairy allergy who tragically died after drinking at Costa hot chocolate has revealed what keeps her up at night
Hannah Jacobs from Barking, East London, had been severely allergic to dairy, fish, and eggs since she was a toddler and died only hours after sipping the drink purchased by her mother on 8 February 2023.
She was described as “vivacious, caring, affectionate, energetic, and outspoken… with a strong sense of right and wrong”.
An inquest into the girl’s death found that there had been a “failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies.”
Her mother ordered two hot chocolates with soya milk and asked for the equipment being used to be cleaned before its use.
Shortly after taking her first sip of the drink Hannah had an instant reaction and was sadly not administered an EpiPen in time to save her life.
Now her mum, Abimbola Duyile, has spoken about the ordeal telling the BBC that guilt keeps her up at night as she ponders what would have happened if she had received the EpiPen sooner.
She explained: “Most nights I stay awake thinking maybe there is something I could have done differently…maybe carrying an EpiPen with me.
“She [would] have been an amazing adult.”
Abimbola went on to call on the government for greater awareness concerning the use of EpiPens as well as educating people on how to identify an allergic reaction.
She also urged restaurants and cafés to better understand, label and identify allergens as well as their risks.
Abimbola said: “If we can get the government at least [to] let people know the symptoms of someone having allergic reaction, it will be amazing.
“They can save a life.
She added: “Teach everybody how to use an EpiPen, whether it’s a kid or adult.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told the BBC that Ministers will ‘carefully consider’ the views of allergy experts and any recommendations made by the coroner at Hannah’s inquest.
The inquest which happened last month dissected the series of unfortunate events that led to Hannah’s death.
Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: “The root cause of this death is a failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies combined with a failure of communication between the mother and the barista.”
It was noted by the coroner that “neither Hannah or her mother were carrying an EpiPen that had been prescribed” in case she was ever exposed to the allergen.
Hannah’s mother released a statement after the inquest in which she noted that she was “extremely diligent” of her allergies and that her daughter took them “very seriously”.
She said: “My beautiful Hannah only had 13 years on this Earth when she should have had many, many more.
She added that allergy training “is not taken seriously enough” and that treating it as a “tick box exercise is not acceptable”.
According to the inquest, at the time of Hannah’s death allergen training for new Costa staff concerned a series of online modules that could be repeatedly taken until answers were correct.
Costa Coffee said in a statement: “The loss of Hannah is a tragedy, and our heartfelt thoughts remain with her family and friends.
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“Understanding how this awful situation occurred is in the interest of everyone. We have listened to everything the coroner has said this week and will carefully consider her comments together with any report she may issue and respond appropriately.”
The inquest heard that Hannah had an “immediate rection” to drinking the hot chocolate complaining of pain in her chest and that swollen and itchy mouth and lips.
The person who served Hanna’s mother, Urmi Akter, told the court she was asked by her: “Can you wash the jug because my daughter has a dairy allergy?”
Ms Akter did not show a book containing dietary requirement as the chain of cafés require as she said Ms Duyile “told me washing the jug was fine”.
Hannah first tasted the drink on way to the dentist when she started to feel unwell, prompting nurses at the dentists to offer Ms Duyile an EpiPen with 300mg of adrenaline, dentist Iqra Farhad told the court.
Ms Farhad said the EpiPen could have saved Hannah’s life, but Ms Duyile opted to get an antihistamine called Cetirizine from a nearby pharmacy instead.
The dentist told the court she only saw Hannah for a brief amount of time, but “there was no sign of panicking or distress”.
However, upon arriving at the chemist, there were no EpiPens available due to general shortages pharmacist Santokh Kahlon said in evidence who said he would “definitely” have used the extra EpiPen from the dentist.
A customer in the chemist at the time, Zeenat Panirwala, said she saw Ms Duyile “struggling ” in distress from the situation.
She heard Ms Duyile blaming Costa for giving her child the drink and was “hysterical saying ‘she’s dead, she’s dead'”.
This incident follows on from a similar incident in 2016 when Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died after eating a baguette from Pret a Manger which contained sesame seeds which Natasha was allergic to, but were not listed as ingredients on the packaging.
This latest incident has led to further calls for greater action to be taken concerning allergens and labelling.
