Milk allergy death- should the book be thrown at the staff involved?

[mids2019]

....or if you are minimum wage staff member working in a stressed environment without English as a first language there should be leniency. Doctors are paid for life and death decisions but are Costa staff?

No.

Maybe the server could of said are you sure it has got milk in after already pointing out it has milk in, the mum when hearing the drink had milk in could also of thought about changing the drink, why would you order a drink for someone with a milk allergy that contains milk. Obviously more training on the issue is needed but whether you think the mum needs to accept responsibility or not she is also responsible. I know that sounds awful given the circumstances but this could of sadly been avoided

Why just nuts? Nuts aren't the only allergen. There are 12 common ones in Europe and a couple of others that are severe but not so common.

I feel so sorry for the mum but if it was my child I would have sampled the drink first or not bought it when I knew my child had such a serious allergy.

It is hard, isn't it. I know a friend of a friend whose daughter has a very severe sesame allergy, like life or death. Must be very hard knowing that you can't make the world stop having sesame products in it.

I did think that at first but then read that the poor girl was also allergic to eggs and other things too. When you have multiple allergies life must be very joyless and tedious when it comes to getting food outside the home.

That said, with a diary allergy and milk everywhere i'm not sure a coffee shop was the best place even so. Although I can see why if she'd enjoyed soya milk hot chocolate before then she would feel comfortable ordering it again.

My son has a peanut allergy. We just don't go in Indian or Chinese or Thai restaurants with him. If we want takeaway he has either a home made curry or a ready meal that we know is nut-free.

My big worry is language issues and someone nodding that they've understood when they actually haven't. Because you can't mitigate against that.

In Costa the person who takes the order just calls it over. The system needs looking at....

I think the reporting has been very ambigous. I've read several articles where the girl is described as having a severe dairy allergy and then said that the allergy had been present since early childhood so it's not made entirely clear whether this is her first anaphylactic reaction or not.
Plus I don't think you can assume that the only reason someone doesn't have adrenaline autoinjectors is because they haven't been prescribed. Over the years in various allergy support groups both real life and online I have known people who have them but don't take them everywhere, carry them but were too scared to use them when the situation arose, were initially prescribed by a hospital consultant but didn't understand that they needed to see the GP for repeats, got complacent because they hadn't had a reaction for years so stopped requesting repeats and someone whose child left them at school at the end of the year, didn't have spares at home and decided to risk it over the Summer holidays rather than bother the doctor. And I am sure there are multiple other possible reasons who someone who should carry adrenaline doesn't. The reason why this girl didn't have any may have been explained in some articles but it wasn't in the ones I've reas.

I think it's desperately sad and any parent would be devastated.

I did wonder why she didn't carry a pen. It sounds like it became more severe, as it can over time. How dreadful for her mother that she didn't use the pen offered.

Because they had a child there with a severe nut allergy. Presumably they’d have done the same with other allergens if listed on the medical information as being that severe. My daughter said one of the kids had a Nutella pancake in their lunchbox so obviously lots of people just don’t think/obey instructions to bring a nut free lunch.

The Irish one is easier to read and all of the hot chocolates are marked either Yes for milk as an allergen or C for potential cross contamination. All of the soya ones are marked C.

They don't. Lots of places only focus on nuts for some ludicrous reason.

This isn't current advice though.

I’m lactose/dairy intolerant. The amount of times Costa has made my drink not with soya milk is incredible. I know within a few minutes as my stomach lets me know! Costa always claim that it has been made with what I requested.

Needless to say I don’t go anymore. It’s not life threatening but having to sit on the toilet for the whole afternoon when I should be working isn’t much fun!

I've got DC with severe allergies and epipens. We are very careful eating out - we ask for allergy menus and don't eat at buffets etc.

Costa has an allergy menu - it's available online. I'd have checked that beforehand and also in the cafe.

Yes the servers should have been more on the ball, but you need to be responsible too.

A lot of people wouldn't know Nutella and nuts.
I have severe food allergies and I am often scared of general knowledge (or lack of it).

Iqra Farhad, a dentist, also told the court on Tuesday nurses offered Ms Duyile an EpiPen with 300mg of adrenaline, which the inquest heard could have saved Hannah's life.

This is what i mean.

I rechecked the DM article i read and they have changed their article to specifically say NO epi was offered....when i initially read it is said the dentist testified remotely from india and that she had offered ms duyile an epipen and it was declined

Its all weird.

I do feel sorry for the barista in this. Sheade a truly awful mistake but i dont think it should be a manslaughter charge or prison sentance

This is a dreadful case. Costa have a corporate responsibility to train staff and make sure that procedures are followed. Maybe there should be a change in their process where a supervisor becomes involved as soon as someone mentions the word allergy.

My DC had an epipen for dairy for a number of years before going on a clinical trial that cured their allergy.

I couldn't have risked it, the cross contamination from the equipment would have triggered anaphylaxis. We managed it by having a completely non dairy home and taking food everywhere we went, only going on self catering holidays, not going abroad where I couldn't be sure of the language/ingredients etc.. We learned not to even think about sitting in cafes because the residue on the tables would cause hives within seconds.

I'd suggest that this allergy had never been as severe as to cause anaphylaxis because otherwise someone (Mum) would have thought about the contents of the chocolate powder - most contain milk.

RIP Hannah Jacobs 🌹a dreadful tragedy.

Lots of the staff involved in producing prepackaged goods will be minimum wage.

Nutella is hazelnuts which are strangely safe for a some with a peanut allergy. (Peanuts are a legume hazelnuts are a tree nut) You can be allergic to both but not always.

Perfect storm - tiny fails, big tragedy.

Both people I know with allergies that bad are experts in what they can and can’t eat. At age 12.

They carry epipens.

They don't. No one is checking every sandwich for butter or cheese if there's a child with a milk allergy.

These kinds of policies aren't advised, and as a parent of a child with a peanut allergy I don't expect them.

Ws are becoming more and more like America where individuals can be sued for mistakes like this. Except unlike America, most people here earn very low wages. For all we know the server wasn't able to even properly hear them say 'oat milk' or whatever above the horrendous noise of the coffee machines. In any case, you can't avoid cross contamination in a place that uses gallons of milk per day. I'm pretty sure Costa wouldn't even guarantee an allergen free drink, due to the high risk of this. It is a shame she died but severe allergies do often lead to illness and or death eventually unless huge precaution is taken and the use of emergency medication like adrenaline.

Don't work in the food and drinks industry if you could kill someone. She was negligent she should have followed her training when serving a customer with an allergy. My son's friends mother text me asking me if my son had any allergies before he went to play at his friends house.

There seems to be different accounts, here it says she did have an Epipen at the chemist but it was too small a dose:

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/girl-13-died-costa-hot-chocolate-served-barista-sometimes-not-understand/

I think in cases like this, there is good reason to have significant penalties for the company involved without the authorities holding low level staff personally responsible (though the company might).

The key is to have companies develop reliable systems and police them effectively, not to make millions of front line workers with little control and subject to the limits of their company's training and management regimes constantly second guess themselves.