Family of toast tragedy man to sue hospital

Oct 10 2007 By Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

THE family of a man who choked to death on toast today revealed they are to sue the Birmingham hospital where he died.

Martin Jennings, aged 36, had swallowing problems and was on a strict "soft diet" when nursing staff at Heartlands Hospital gave him toast.

Birmingham Coroner Aidan Cotter recorded a verdict of accidental death contributed to by neglect and identified five failures of care.

He called for all hospitals across Birmingham and Solihull to be notified of the case to prevent similar deaths.

Mr Jennings, from Corley, near Coventry, who suffered from a progressive disease, cystinosis, died when a piece of toast blocked his airway last November 29.

Family solicitor Mandy Luckman, of Irwin Mitchell, said: "The Jennings family intend to proceed with legal action against Heart of England NHS Trust.

"Given the unequivocal evidence, I invite the trust to make an early admission of liability in order to spare the family any further pain.

"The inquest presented very clear evidence of failures in Martin's care, and a contributory neglect verdict is not given lightly."

Despite a warning notice on his bed and nurses being aware that Mr Jennings could not eat solid food, they gave him toast because he wanted it.

Care assistants Julie Handley and Linda Casey served Mr Jennings the toast, saying he was "argumentative and insistent" that he wanted it.

Mr Jennings was described as "inspirational" for battling against the odds to live a normal life, studying IT at college and being a regular at quizzes.

Heart of England Trust, which runs Heartlands Hospital, said crucial lessons had been learned from the tragedy.