Teenager with allergy died after bite of chicken satay

 
26 July 2012

A teenager died from a severe allergic reaction after biting into a piece of chicken satay at a friend’s birthday party, an inquest heard.

Natalia Green, 17, who had allergies to a number of foods including peanuts, vomited and collapsed after eating the food at a restaurant in Putney.

Westminster coroner’s court was told she picked up a satay skewer because she had not been warned about its ingredients. After taking only one bite, she felt tingling on her lips and later collapsed at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

Friends tried to revive her but she went into a coma and suffered brain damage. Her life support machine was switched off nine days later.

The court heard that Natalia, of Kensington, was with friends celebrating an 18th birthday at Moomba restaurant in Lacy Road last January when a platter of nibbles was passed around.

Dr John Thorpe-Beeston, a parent of one of the girls and a consultant at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, rushed to the scene to help. He said: “Sadly, she looked gravely ill. She was not making any respiratory efforts, I couldn’t detect a pulse, and she looked pale. I diagnosed she was in arrest.”

Restaurant owner Ritu Dutt admitted the food had not been labelled with warnings, and it would have been simple to do so. But she said: “Ninety-nine per cent of the time people would always tell you, because people are quite aware of their own ailments.”

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said: “There is only one verdict ... natural causes after an allergic reaction to peanuts.” She paid tribute to the “fortitude and determination” of friends of Natalia who tried to save her.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in