Schoolboy who suffered two heart attacks after being given a chocolate by teacher

[AuntieMaggie]

I don't have children yet but this really made me cry here

I hope the poor boy recovers soon :(

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic that sounds very good practice.

God how awful for all concerned
Ds is allergic to nuts .
I have taught him to bring 'birthdya sweets' home so we can check together and not to eat it.
He knows there are certain sweets he can have like haribo that are safe.

Ds has been handed sweets containing nuts on quite a few occassions . We cannot trust that others think of the allergy at all and should never be complacent that they have.
Ds' golf coach handed him a snickers bar and well meaning lady at toddlers put a hazelnut choc chip cookie in his hand...luckily I was right behind him. I felt sorry for her..it's hard to remember when it's not your problem.

My ds says 'does it have nuts in?' rather than 'am I allowed it?' but I wouldn't have thought too hard about it if I hadn't witnessed my dairy allergic niece being encouraged to eat chocolate she isn't 'allowed' because "mummy won't mind".

Ds has his picture on the register, the classroom wall, the staffroom wall and in the staff toilets so hopefully a supply teacher would notice one of them.

Hmm, would it help if the children learned to ask "Is it safe for me?", rather than "Am I allowed it?"

Because "allowed" could mean all sorts of things. Using "safe" should get even the least switched on adult in any context to ask "Why on earth would it not be safe?"

And "safe" could help the children distinguish between not allowed because it's naughty, and not allowed because it'll kill you.

Where does it say that he asked if it was Ok for him to eat it?

Actually it doesn't, good point.

They've updated it since I read it this morning - it said that he had asked if he could have a chocolate

Its all very well saying that "there is aboard up in the classroom saying what children are allergic to". But was the substitute teacher made aware of this?

I bet if the school or the headmaster or someone had said to the substitute teacher "by the way, in the class you're teaching today X has a serious nut allergy" then she wouldn't have given the sweets out.

I'm also suprised that the other parents/kids weren't aware of him having a nut allergy - most schools tell other parents. If they did know then its a pity that another parent sent in a box of chocolates with nuts in. I guess they could have forgotten.

Three things went wrong here

1. A parent sent in chocolates with nuts in
2. The child forgot to check they were safe
3. The substitute teacher forgot to check they were safe.

I think the DM has updated this story: it does now say that he asked the teacher if he was allowed the sweet.

Since she was offering the sweet to the whole class, she was obviously already giving him permission to have one. So, if she had been doing her job properly, she would have realised that his question meant something different. In fact, if she'd been doing her job properly, she wouldn't have offered it to him in the first place. It was her job to take reasonable care not to harm the children in her care.

This is such a frightening story for those of us with anaphylactic children. And it'd doubly distressing to have to read it in the DM: the ignorant attitude shown by some of the comments there is just shocking.

My son is coeliac and we have a nut allergy child in school. The class register has a picture of any child with either allergy/SN so any teacher can see.

We are a nut free school as well (but that doesnt stop some silly parents !!)

Any "goodies" handed out in school are not allowed to be eaten at school, but sent home with the child

From what Lady Damerel says, it's not surprising that the supply teacher was unaware of the boy's allergy. But surely that means the obvious thing to do, if you are a supply teacher, is to check first, before giving out any foods to children? It's hardly uncommon any more for there to be children with life-threatening allergies in a normal, day-to-day classroom situation. It issomething that any teacher ought to be prepared for without being briefed.

The supply teacher should not have handed the chocolates out on their own. They should have checked with the school office, first.

Hopefully they will never do such a thoughtless thing again.

oh my word. I once gave a boy not much older than the boy in the article with a nut allergy a chocolate (Quality Street Hazeulnut one as it happens) and no-one in the circumstances thought to check. We all knew he had a nut allergy, he knew he had to be careful. But in this instance no-one thought. Seconds later we were on the stage at the Usher Hall and he suddenly ran out again from the middle of the choir stalls. Thankfully one of the teachers was near the stage door and had his epipen at hand and it was enough to stop a deadly reaction.

But I've never forgotten that moment of realisation of what I'd done and how much worse it could have been

PC is it hreally hardly uncommon for there to be children with life threatening allergies in the class? I know loads of children with allergies but have never come across one with a life threatening allergy.

I cannot see any mention of him asking if the chocolate was safe.

The school should be nutfree and should have informed the teacher that a child in her class had a nut allergy.

Going by the fact that his mother had an epipen, I would imagine that it was not his first reaction and that the school were well aware of the seriousness of his allergy.

I used to do nursery supply and would always check with a permanent member of staff before giving any child anything to eat - obviously with the under 5s you can't trust them to police themselves, but allergies and special dietary requirements are so common these days that I do think it was negligent/unprofessional of someone who works with children to not be very sure when giving out food.

How awful for that wee boy.

Our school is sweet free - some kind of healthy eating policy, so any school disco/parties just have fruit and juice available, teachers are not allowed to give out sweets, cakes or anything that has not been prepared by the school. The only exception is when we are having a fair and people donate home made cakes etc.

hindsight is a great thing and i'm sure the school/teacher is moritfied.

i can never understand how epipens can't be kept as standard. I know they have different dosages but can you not have one just for emergencies?

belgo the problem with allergies that the only indicator of how serious an allergic reaction might be is a measurement of a certain protein in the blood. If the score is high for a particular allergen, it doesn't mean that every reaction will be anaphylactic (ie. fatal without emergency treatment) but it does mean that every reaction might be. So, with a high score, there's that risk every time. Allergies to nuts and sesame do tend to produce anaphylactic reactions most of the time. Children do sometimes grow out of others (eg. eggs and dairy) but the only reliable (and safe) way to gauge whether that is happening is by regular blood testing.

It's complicated though, by the fact that, in some people, their reaction to their very first exposure to the allergen may be relatively mild. If the allergy is diagnosed then, it's tempting to assume that it's a mild one. This is dangerous because the second could well be anaphylactic. DS's first exposure to nuts caused a rash around his mouth and some wheezing. His second exposure caused analphylactic shock.

southeastra hindsight has nothing to do with it. And surely "mortified" is something of an understatement? That little boy's heart stopped twice and he stopped breathing. He is lucky to be alive and (fingers crossed) has avoided brain damage through lack of oxygen.

so what does this thread achieve other than to go on about how awful it was??

Are threads supposed to achieve something

I know that Snowjive, my dh has many allergies so does my ds. And I have still never come across a child who has a life threatening allergy.

My ds has anaphylactic reactions when in contact with raw egg- not intolerance. He was sent to a parent led session to make biscuits- the recipe they were using contained raw egg. If ds hadn't spotted the fact the egg was there who knows what would have happened. He is just 6, so I do think the teachers carry some responsibility for the situations they put him in.The inclusion worker, grabbed him out of the session that had started. Did the teachers tell me- no it was the parent who was shaken and really upset on ds's behalf. Every week I have had to raise allergy with them or the fact he is coming out of school in a dreadful state because he is reacting to something. They have medicines to give, they have been educated, he had the same teachers in reception but still they make unecessary mistakes.
I will show them the article and maybe they will take note.
So sad that a simple mistake led to this boy being so poorly- but completely understand how it can happen.
a very upset and despondant M44