13 August 2024, 19:51
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A teen girl with severe dairy allergies died after being served a hot chocolate with cow’s milk by a Costa barista who “sometimes” could not understand customers, an inquest heard today.
Hannah Jacobs, who had been allergic to dairy products, fish and eggs since she was a toddler, died within hours of taking a sip of the drink on February 8, 2022, East London Coroner’s Court was previously told.
Her mother, Abimbola Duyile, claims she ordered two takeaway soya hot chocolates from the coffee chain before taking Hannah to a dental appointment, the court heard on Monday.
However, Costa employee Urmi Akter, who served the girl and her mother, said Ms Duyile asked for one regular and one medium hot chocolate as she was giving evidence in the court on Tuesday.
She says the mother asked for her medium drink to be “extra hot” and for her daughter’s to be “normal”.
Ms Akter said Ms Duyile told her of her daughter’s dairy allergies but that she only asked for the jug used to froth milk to be thoroughly washed.
Read more: Schoolgirl, 13, dies after suffering severe allergic reaction to Costa hot chocolate
Ms Akter, who had a Bengali translator with her, said she had not heard Ms Duyile say she wanted two soya milk hot chocolates.
Ms Akter said she washed the jug between making the two hot chocolates – both made with cow’s milk by colleague Nicoleta Matei – as the mother requested.
Assistant Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe, asked: “Have you ever had any difficulty understanding what someone has said from behind the [perspex] screen [of the Costa till]?”
“Not too much, sometimes,” Ms Akter replied.
Despite Costa’s allergy training instructing staff to show an “allergy book” to customers who report allergies, Ms Akter did not do so, the hearing was told.
When Ms Akter was asked by Dr Radcliffe why she had not shown the allergy book to Ms Duyile, Julia Kendrick, representing the barista warned her client about responding.
Ms Kendrick continually warned Ms Akter that she didn’t have to answer questions that could expose her to criminal liability, under Rule 22.
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Ms Duyle had said on Monday she had been “picky” about telling the coffee shop staff that Hannah had an allergy and they needed to clean the equipment when they made her drink, the court was told.
Ms Duyile went on to say that her “anger gave way to terror” after her child’s reaction to the drink.
In a statement read in court, she said: “When I arrived at the coffee shop I said to the person serving that we both would like hot chocolate.
“I said that Hannah was severely allergic to cows’ milk and said they should clean the jug – to which they agreed.” Hannah took her first sip of the drink when she was at the dentist which was a short walk away.
Ms Duyile recalled that Hannah “abruptly got up and went to the toilet and shouted ‘that was not soya milk’. ”
She said Hannah’s reaction “happened quickly” and she was coughing up phlegm.
Ms Duyile then rushed Hannah, who was complaining of chest pains, to a nearby chemist as her “lips and mouth were very swollen and she was itchy”.
She added that “my initial response was of anger to the Costa Coffee staff – it gave way to terror”.
Hannah collapsed in the chemist and the pharmacist gave her an an EpiPen injection in her leg.
Attempts to resuscitate were started and a customer called an ambulance. Paramedics soon arrived and continued resuscitation efforts.
Hannah was rushed to hospital where she was declared dead by 1pm, according to her family’s lawyers.
Ms Duyile told the court that she had been careful about checking with the staff before they prepared the drinks, saying: “I made sure that the staff was aware that this was not a joke”.
She said she was being “extra picky” and so specific about the order that she “might sound like a crazy mum” but her attitude was that she needed “to be straight with the staff”.
She added that, at that point, “Hannah was busy telling me off for being so picky”.
Of the reaction of the staff behind the counter to her request, Ms Duyile told the court: “I feel that she did not understand what I was saying, which is why I leaned forwards so that she could hear what I was saying.”
Hannah’s family had opted for a policy of “complete avoidance” as a way to manage her allergies.
It meant she was “diligent” about what she ate when she was away from home and would only try things that had been cooked by her mother or aunt or had been checked beforehand.
She even brought her own bottle of ketchup with her for some meals, would check with shop staff before ordering as she “understood” that “managing her allergies was just part of life”.
Earlier, Ms Duyile remembered her daughter as a proud, kind and confident child who had a “strong sense of right and wrong”.
She said: “I know that she would have achieved anything she set her mind to. I loved my child so much and my heart is broken.”
Receiving an early dose of adrenaline could have been key to Hannah’s treatment and since she weighed 47 kilos and was a teenager she would have needed more than 150mcg, the court heard.
Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe wondered whether it may have made a difference if Hannah had been given two 300mcg doses after she arrived at the chemist.
Dr Rahul Chodhari, who had been involved in the management of Hannah’s allergies, said it would be hard to predict, adding that “150mcg was certainly too small a dose to be given”.
The coroner said: “Nine minutes after consuming the drink [Hannah] had left the dentist. I had understood that if she had received a intra muscular adrenaline injection within that period she would have survived. Is that right, doctor? ”
Dr Chodhari replied “yes”.
The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday at 10am.