Another Anaphylaxis Death in Preschool
Here is another terrible story. But I post it here in the hopes that we can all learn from this and avoid this from happening again. My heart felt thoughts go out to the little boys family.
I’ve lifted this in full from theage.com.au in case they remove the story.
2 things jump out at me when I read this.
1. NUT FREE ZONE DO NOT WORK! It’s human nature that complacency will set in regardless of how good you think your school is in policing the zone. Get into the real world and make sure everyone is educated, because when you go to the shop or the park or anywhere (even at home) there is always potential risk.
2. ALWAYS LEAVE 2 PENS AT THE SCHOOL. While Declan was at kindy and preschool he always had 2 pens, just in case. Ambulances can take more than 15 minutes to arrive and the second pen may need to be used to follow up from the first if the ambulance is late. Now that he is in School, we actually have 4 pens on campus. 1 in the office in the medical kit, with his antihistamene, 1 on playground duty, and the 2 he normally carries around with him in a bumbag in his classroom (these 2 basically go where Declan goes)
Aaron
Mother blames peanut exposure for son’s death
March 27, 2007
THE mother of a boy who died from a suspected allergic reaction to peanuts at a Cheltenham preschool has accused the kindergarten of not telling the truth about his death.
Martha Baptist told an inquest into the death of her four-year-old son Alex that she believed exposure to nuts led to his collapse and death on September 15, 2004.
She said the most likely source was a peanut butter sandwich brought by a mother who was on duty at the preschool, Angela Berry.
Mrs Baptist wept as she told the inquest how she had farewelled Alex hours before his death. “He didn’t want me to go,” she said. “I kissed his darling head and off I went.”
She and her husband Nigel are demanding an apology from the Evesham Road Preschool and a full explanation of the circumstances surrounding the death. She said they chose the kindergarten because it had a nut-free policy.
The Baptists were granted an inquest after months of campaigning, including a petition containing almost 4500 signatures, amid concerns from other parents with children who have allergies.
The preschool told the couple that Alex, who had a severe allergy to peanuts, was fed only fruit on the day of his death and did not come into contact with peanuts. Staff told the Baptists that Alex had been happily playing before collapsing without explanation at the sandpit.
An EpiPen, a device that delivers adrenaline in the event of a severe allergic reaction, was mistakenly jabbed into a staff member’s finger in the rush to revive Alex.
Mrs Baptist told yesterday’s Coroners Court hearing that she became aware months after the death that there was another EpiPen at the preschool but it was not used.
“I was told they were not sure about the liability of using the second EpiPen. They considered using it, but decided not to because it belonged to another child,” she said.
Mrs Baptist told the inquest that after a discussion with another mother, she believed that Ms Berry had brought a peanut butter sandwich to the school for her daughter.
But Mrs Baptist admitted she did not know anybody who had seen a peanut butter sandwich at the school on the day of her son’s death, nor anyone who had seen contact between Alex and Ms Berry’s daughter.
Under cross-examination from Aine Magee, counsel for the preschool, Mrs Baptist admitted she had thanked kindergarten staff and parents for their help after the death.
Ms Magee told the inquest that the kindergarten would deny telling Mrs Baptist that a second EpiPen was not used because it feared liability.
The hearing before coroner Audrey Jamieson continues today.
“NUT FREE ZONE DO NOT WORK!”
I have to disagree. Why not make the effort to reduce the risk? Of course you must always be prepared for an accidental exposure! However, you will have fewer reactions if you reduce the amount of the allergen in the area. Seems like common sense to me.
The goal with young children should be to give them time to take charge of their allergy while keeping them reaction free.
You are entitled to your opinion of course, and I know from past experience that if you believe that nut free zones work then I won’t be able to convince you otherwise.
But here’s some more information for my other readers to take on board…
Let me just say that I have seen first hand in 3 different schools were they had a nut free policy and there were still nuts around. What was the worst was that the staff fell back on the policy and didn’t even realise there were nuts around or take precautions to reduce risk because of this.
I’d like to ask that you do yourself a favour and if you have a child in a nut free zone, go to the school for a week and help out in the class, not just one day, but a whole week, and you will see I guarantee you nuts and nut based product coming into the environment with the potential to harm your child. And just see if the staff are even aware of it, or take precautions just in case like routine hand washing etc. I did this personally and was appalled at the results. The staff even brought in peanut based product for themselves.
All the anaphylaxis organisations don’t condone nut free zones, and they are correct in doing so. You should ask yourself why they take this stance.
The answer is education of parents, staff and students, and putting into place checks and measures (like routing hand washing and clean up in the class, etc), and having a solid and easy to follow action plan (for emergencies).
I’d like you also to think about the children that have other food allergies that you are discriminating against, like milk, eggs. Do you want to ban those as well?
Aaron
I am the father of young Alex Baptist and I want to add my thoughts.
In spite of my sons death I still believe nut free policies can work.One of the big problems that became apparant during the inquest was the complete lack of policing of the nut free policy - I had not realised how lacking this was until the inquest.
I agree with American that nut free policies must by logic reduce the risk by minimising the amount of product, although obviously staff and parents need to be aware the policy may be breached and thus need to be adequately trained to deal with it.
Also of interest in Montreal Canada approx 80% of schools went nut free and the incidence of incidental exposure decreased dramatically.
In addition you have to keep in mind it’s not good enough to just say that you’re nut free but this has to be backed up with vigilant monitoring of the policy and enforcement of the policy ( not ignoring it when it is breached). To say lets not have a nut free policy becasue people breach it is as dangerous as saying lets not have speed limits because people don’t stick to them anyway. Lets at least make the effort to keep people safe.In regards to other allergies and banning, the studies show that 90% of food fatalaties and near fatalaties are caused by peanut and tree nut so this seems like a logical place to start.
Our last three student deaths in Australia all due to peanut. Great idea to carry two epi-pens, though on the day Alex died two epi-pens were at the centre and staff were unable to sucessfully administer either of them, this is also despite instructions for use also being available on the action plan.
This highlights the need for adequate training and regular practice drills with a trainer epi-pen.I’m pleased to hear that there is discussion regarding Anaphylaxis as it is discussion and debate that will lead to education and better safety standards for children at risk of Anaphylaxis.
We like that our son is remembered. He was a darling, loving child.
Thank you Nigel for posting that, it is very humbling to hear your views on the topic,
I’m sure that all our readers greatly appreciate your input.
Melanie and my thoughts go to your family over your loss. It is so tragic and close to home for us, that Melanie can’t even read the news story without breaking down in tears.
Aaron
If my son was allergic to peanuts, I am sure that I too would be fighting for Nut Free Zones. I would give anything for the peace of mind that this is trying to give parents, and the children with these allergies. Sadly for us a Milk Free Zone is scoffed at as a ridiculous joke. The peanut butter on a sandwich may be your focus, but for us the risk is in the bread. (new fancy breads with “added calcium” now contain milk)
I fully respect “American”, and “Nigel’s” views based upon their individual situations, and personally would never intentionally bring peanuts into an environment where a known peanut allergic child is. But in an effort to educate everyone about anaphylaxis, all I ask is that you not forget about the rest of us. Keep fighting for Nut free Zones for your own piece of mind, but please don’t stop there, follow it up with information about how to handle all the other allergens to keep even more kids safe. I can’t ban MILK based products in schools, but like you would try if I could! Our circumstances may be unique, but we should all be on the same team, working together for understanding and acceptance.
Would like to make on comment on this. It is extremely tragic that this deadful death has occured. But one needs to ask why the Batists are trying to blame the kinder. As I understand it even the coroner cannot be sure that this death was caused by anaphylaxis … One thing we havent heard much about is that this death could also be contributed to a cardiac problem .. one which coould not be confirmed or denied after tissue samples where sent to the USA for testing .. also interested regarding this is that Mrs Baptist has a pacemaker for the same problem ,,,, peanuts unlikely — cardiac arrythmia more likely
BlueAngel that is very insensitive and insulting to the Baptists to make judgments like that. It sounds like you are either involved with the kindy or some other party that is. You are entitled to your opinion of course and you seem to know quite a bit about the topic.
Look I don’t know anything about the topic other than what I read through the many newspaper write ups that have covered it. Any cause that results in the death of a child should have you holding your tongue and feeling nothing but sympathy in relation to the topic. Especially when you can see that the Baptists have commented personally on this post.
Our thoughts go with the Baptists no matter what happened on the day.
Aaron
I’m so sorry to hear of Alex’s death. My son, too, has a severe allergy to peanuts, as well as to soy. He is in a nut free classroom and the cafeteria serves only nut free foods. Because my son is also allergic to soy, we pack his lunch every day anyway.
I know that his school and the staff are not infallable, but am grateful that they have taken some steps to make my son safer. They have yet to have an incident and have several allergy kids - at every grade level.
To reduce the risk even further, I also talk personally with each teacher he has to impress upon them how real the danger is and to be vigilent in keeping all foods that I did not pack for him away from him. We also accompany him on all field trips. And we chose this school not only for their nut free class, but also because its less than a mile from the hospital.
I will say that the school nurse has impressed me. They ask that all allergy kids allow the school to keep the epipens after they have expired. They use the expired pens to train all staff that might need to administer an epi-pen. They inject the expired pens into fruit - like an orange or grapefruit, so that staff members have working knowledge of the pen - which direction it goes, how it feels to administer it. Real life experience is better than reading a label or looking at a chart. Afterwards, they dispose of the fruits safely, so no one consumes them. I just wanted to pass this along to all the other parents out there whose allergy kids are in school. Sharing ideas and practical tips can only help.
Vikki
I am the director of a child care centre and am very wary of using the term “nut free”. We provide the children with meals daily and we do not use nuts or eggs for that matter in our foods. However by claiming “nut free” we may leave ourselves open to litigation as we cannot control items (which are increasing in numbers) that claim “traces of nut” we also cannot control what happens in individual homes. We make parents aware that we do endervour to keep nuts off the premises but by the same token we do not want to mislead anyone. I have witnessed an incident where child(a) kissed child(b) and child(b) developed hives. After an investigation the child(a) have had nut cereal for breakfast. I want to assure you all that we take all your children’s allergies seriously and we (esp in Victoria) have learnt a lot from these tragic cases
I believe nut free is one piece of risk reduction, but education and awareness vital and the most important aspect of food allergy management. As a mother of child with extreme peanut, tree nut and dairy allergies to have our school still believe peanuts are the only food that can kill is disappointing to say the least.