Woman dies after eating sorbet
A MIDWIFE died after eating a strawberry sorbet in a Greek hotel, despite warning her travel agent and hotel bosses of her food allergies.
Amanda Thompson, 50, had put hotel staff on ‘high alert’ telling them she could not eat anything containing eggs, milk or apples.
But when she ate the dessert, prepared specially for her, she suffered a fatal allergic reaction, an inquest heard.
Her husband Ian told the court that after the meal – on a holiday to Rhodes with their two sons in 2012 – his wife complained of a ‘tingling sensation’ in her mouth. Mrs Thompson feared she was having a reaction and went to her room. But once there she collapsed and never regained consciousness.
Rochdale Coroner’s Court heard she had made managers of the Aegean Atlantica hotel and holiday agent Thomson aware of her allergies. She said she needed food to be specially prepared as she was severely sensitive to some ingredients, particularly dairy products.
A Greek pathologist concluded that Mrs Thompson died of natural causes, saying heart failure was probably to blame. But Mr Thompson insisted his wife’s death was a result of anaphylac- tic shock – later confirmed by a British pathologist, the hearing was told.
Recording an accident verdict, Coroner Simon Nelson concluded an ingredient in the sorbet triggered Mrs Thompson’s fatal reaction. He said it was ‘ astonishing’ that neither the hotel nor Thomson had launched an investigation.
Solicitor Louise Wilcox, representing Mrs Thompson’s family, said: ‘We will now be taking legal action in the civil courts as the family believe that Amanda’s death should have been avoidable.’ A Thomson spokesman extended ‘deepest sympathies to the family at this extremely difficult time’.