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A CORONER HAS issued a warning after a ten-year-old boy suffered a fatal allergic reaction to a McDonald’s chicken wrap.
Dublin Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane warned parents of children with food allergies to check ingredients at the inquest into the death of Maleek Lawal, a student at St Audeon’s National School in Dublin.
The child suffered a severe allergic reaction and died after eating a take-away meal from McDonald’s.
The boy’s mother told Dublin Coroner’s Court that he loved McDonald’s food and always asked for it as a treat.
He ate a Peri Peri chicken wrap from the fast-food restaurant’s Ilac Centre outlet on 7 October 2016. Within ten minutes he began to feel ill.
“He was a beautiful, playful boy. He loved to read. My heart is truly broken for him. I would not wish this pain of losing him on my worst enemy,” his mother Rukawat Lawal said, speaking after the inquest.
She was pregnant with Maleek when she arrived in Ireland from Nigeria seeking asylum in 2006.
He was diagnosed with asthma and eczema as a young child and was advised to avoid milk, eggs, fish and nuts.
Haircut
On the day he died, Maleek’s mother had taken her three children to a barber shop after school for a haircut.
“We were homeless, with nobody helping us, we were on our own and I was looking for a way to get out of emergency accommodation. I was looking for a way to keep the children happy,” she said.
“Sometimes I felt so bad for him, so sad for him, that when he asked for something I had to give it to him.”
The mother-of-three left her sons in the barber shop at the Ilac Centre in Dublin and went with her daughter to McDonald’s where she ordered hamburgers, chicken nuggets and a Peri Peri chicken wrap.
Maleek had often eaten hamburgers and nuggets before but never the Peri Peri wrap, the court heard. His mother brought the food back to the barber shop where the children ate it.
“He ate the whole wrap. Within ten minutes he began to feel ill. He asked to go to the toilet. In the toilets he said ‘Mam I’m feeling weak, I can’t walk’,” she said.
His lips and face swelled up. His mother grabbed him and ran back into the barber shop screaming for help.
“My mind was everywhere I didn’t know what to do,” she said.
Dublin Fire Brigade were called to the scene at 5.50pm but Maleek was not breathing and had no pulse when they arrived. The child was rushed to Temple Street Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7pm.
Anaphylactic shock
Pathologist Dr Deirdre Devaney gave the cause of death as acute anaphylactic shock in a boy with a known allergy to milk, eggs and fish following ingestion of food on the same date.
Paediatric Allergy specialist at Temple Street Dr Aideen Byrne said a skin test performed in March 2016 showed no resolution of the boy’s allergies and she advised ongoing avoidance of milk, fish and eggs.
Maleek’s mother received two auto-injectors and was advised to carry them at all times in case of anaphylaxis. Training on the use of the injectors was given by Maleek’s dietary team at Temple Street.
“His testing indicated to me that the risk of allergic reaction to food was very probable and it is impossible to predict the severity of a reaction a child might have. Particularly in relation to dairy and eggs, because the format of the processing and the cooking will impact hugely on the effect they have,” Dr Byrne said.
One in twenty Irish children now have food allergies, Dr Byrne said.
Food allergies
“We advise to carry the emergency injection, the Anapen at all times because the faster it is administered the more effective it is,” Dr Byrne said. The injector pen can be obtained from any chemist without prescription if an allergic reaction is suspected.
The Peri Peri chicken wrap contained milk, the court heard.
McDonald’s employee Kerry Byrne served Maleek’s mother the takeaway meal.
“It was a normal order there was no query about ingredients,” she said.
Asked if information is supplied regarding food allergies she answered that it was, by the till.
Returning a verdict of misadventure, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane issued a recommendation to parents of children with allergies to consult lists provided by law by restaurants detailing ingredients of meals provided.
“The recommendation is that parents should consult such lists prior to ingestion and to reinforce the importance of carrying an auto-injector in cases of food allergy,” Dr Cullinane said.
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What exactly was the relevance of her homelessness ?
@Liam Carlin: it’s part of the quote from the grieving mother. Would you rather they quote her in sentence fragments?
@Dave O Keeffe: I’d rather hear why she didn’t have the Anapen on her . It’s a tragedy for the child who died , and I can sympathise with the mother for her loss , but she contributed wholly to this tragic event .
@Ken Hayden: yeah, the headline makes that clear. Do you not think she knows?
@Dave O Keeffe: It may be part of the quote by the grieving mother , but has absolutely nothing to do with the cause of death of this boy .
More to the point would be to ask why , when she was provided with the tools and knowledge to prevent this type of thing occurring , she chose to ignore it .
@Ken Hayden:
If so do you believe she should therefore be charged with manslaughter…?
@Kevin: I believe she had a duty of responsibility to the child , maybe in this case a prosecution will be of no benefit , I don’t know .
If a parent leaves a child in a car , and the child dies from overheating , it is also tragic but they will more than likely be charged with negligence .
Here’s a case from New Zealand , where a father forgot to put the handbrake on and the car rolled into a lake , drowning his only child , the man was still charged .
https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-new-zealand-herald/20110602/283948879211530
@Kevin: Here’s a quote from a law professor about a case where a 16 month old child died from heat exhaustion after being left in a car . The mother said she forgot the child was there .
”A child is dead and that is the bottom line – it is a form of homicide” .
Kevin , we have laws to protect the most vulnerable in our society, it’s up to a jury of our peers to decide our guilt .
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/67094956/charges-loom-for-whanganui-car-death-tots-mum
@Ken Hayden:
A duty of care is a given.
I suspect she has suffered enough.
No reports of any pending charges from DPP.
Other jurisdictions may enact laws to “punish” such “offenders”.
In Ireland there does not seem to be an appetite for same.
Even if there was a follow up prosecution who would benefit?
If deterrence was the motive to prevent similar tragedies then the aspiration is legitimate. In reality how many people need to be deterred from such ghastly scenarios?
The alternative motive could be good old fashioned righteous indignation and retribution at perceived poor parenting. A common sentiment I’ve noticed in the context of similar news report commentary.
@Kevin: Deterrence is the motive , this is not the same as allowing your 10 yr old go out to play , and they get knocked down by a car or die in a fall .
Without harping on too much about this case , the life of the boy was constantly in peril , and it was up to the parents to protect him with the means at their disposal .
My heart goes out to this family. As a parent of a child with an egg allergy I am scared of my life of something like this.
The awareness of allergies out there can be hit and miss. We recently visited a restaurant where there was no information about allergies on the menu. I asked the server as she said they had a list for the adult menu but not the childrens. She proceeded to list all the things on the menu that she thought he couldn’t have. I later found an allergy list online for the chain and some of the items offered actually contained eggs. In the end he had chips and some apple slices and came home even more conscious about eating as bread and fish had been listed by the server as unsuitable for him which are generally fine.
@Sandra: anything like this should be reported online to the FSAI – in Ireland it is the law under 14 allergens legislation that they can provide you with allergen information for all food served.
So sad. RIP little man.
My post about this being essentially about parental negligence was deleted. Unfortunately, that fact remains. This is simple. If the hospital explains to you exactly what you should not do in terms of diet, and provides epipens and training in how to use them, it is on you to be an adult in all this. Not to just say “he wanted a treat so I gave him one”. How often do the basics have to be explained to an adult?
@Dave Slater:
Yep. Another holier than thou contribution to a tragic family bereavement. No shortage on this thread.
@Dave Slater: Lots of comments have been deleted , apparently calling for parental responsibility is deemed wrong speak now .
That is just the saddest thing :(to be homeless and as a parent trying to do the best you can, to give your kids a small treat and this happens, heart broken, hopefully this raises awareness that he didn’t die in vein, maybe will prompt people to carry those anaphlaytic pens,
@Lisa Byrne: The mother was issued with two and trained in their use.
@Lisa Byrne: she was given all the training she needed and the pens . She choose to ignore it .
It’s really, really sad. I can only imagine what a blow this loss is to her, and to his siblings, and friends. So sorry for their loss.
@Lisa Byrne: She wasn’t homeless! She was an asylum seeker with 4 kids living in direct provision.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Well that explains your lack of sympathy and empathy.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu:
And……?
@Declan _:
Never takes long for the holier than thou brigade to dump all over a personal tragedy.
@Dave Slater:
And…?
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu:
An asylum seeker!!! Well then that settles it. Everyone adjust your sympathy dial to zero.
@Kevin: It’s not just a personal tragedy , a 10 year old child has died . We have laws in this country dealing with the responsibility placed on parents to ensure their children have a chance in life .
The censor has removed a lot of comments which they obviously deemed unsympathetic to this woman .
But tell me where the responsibility for this child’s life lay , with the HSE , they provided the training and equipment neccessary to save this boy , McDonalds , for not asking her if the person who was going to eat the wrap had an allergy , or the mother who didn’t keep the Epipens provided to her , on her or her son’s person .
We can make excuses , and say it was a terrible tragedy , but a young boy is dead , someone failed him .
As someone with a food allergy, I NEVER go anywhere without my anapen / epipen. It is not an option, I cannot trust restaurant staff from any establishment to take food allergies seriously. Once I was told my allergy was a fashion choice so some of the allergen in my food would have no effect or an outright lie that the allergen was not in the food I ordered, the result of this for me was an ambulance trip and 6 hours under observation after treatment in the accident and emergency department.
As an adult I have a choice, I choose to have an anapen with me but a child does not have that option, they are reliant on their parent(s) to take their allergies as an ongoing serious issue and carry the appropriate medication at all times. The best you can hope for is you never have to use the anapen.
Also the list of allergens displayed in food outlets does not cover all food allergies so you always have to ask what are the ingredients and what it is cooked with.
@Jacqueline McCabe: Honestly it sounds like a mine field I wouldn’t eat out in restaurants at all if my allergies were that bad I’d bring prepared food and lump it cos better that than hospital or death, yes it sucks when everyone else is eating at a restaurant but I’d rather have a crying child and feed them my own food than a dead one…absolutely horrific tragedy and I know everyone is sayind she should have had the pen etc but the poor woman must have lost her mind with grief.
@Jacqueline McCabe: completely agree, it just has to be taken seriously. Most, but not all, fatalities from allergic reactions are caused when the allergy wasn’t taken seriously and often it’s the 16-25 age group also.
@Chipstix: no that’s not the answer either! It’s completely possible to lead a normal life and eat out even with a severe allergy. But you must equip yourself or your child with the skills to manage it by assessing risk, recognising symptoms and being able to self treat with Epipens or similar. Adrenaline is a fantastic magical drug that we are lucky to have… it works in minute and is nothing to be afraid of. Like any illness, personal responsibility is very important.
I once bit into a peanut lion bar and the guy in the passenger seat next to me had an instant reaction. His lips ballooned and he couldn’t breathe. That was just from me eating it!!! Scary, scary stuff. Going out routine;
Wallet, check, phone, check, keys, check, EpiPen, check.
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