Man died after throat burned by hot fishcake
A BUSINESSMAN died after eating a hot fishcake that burned his throat and eventually stopped him from breathing.
Darren Hickey’s voice box swelled after he was asked to try a fishcake by a chef at the wedding venue he managed, the Mirror reports.
He took himself to hospital but was sent home with paracetamol, partly because of the rarity of the injury.
Mr Hickey, 51, was told to return if the pain increased and as the swelling in his throat worsened over several hours, he began to choke and was rushed to hospital, where he died.
Mr Hickey had previously suffered a severe stroke which left him struggling to walk and speak.
But he channelled his energy into charity work and won the Stroke Association’s Inspirational Person of Courage Award.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, acting senior coroner Alan Walsh described Mr Hickey’s death as ‘an immense tragedy.’
“This was caused by eating a fishcake, very small and very hot but with catastrophic consequences,” he said.
“I find this an immense tragedy.” Bolton Corner’s Court heard how Mr Hickey had been leaving the wedding venue he managed in Chorley, when he was asked to try the fishcake.
Pathologist Dr Patrick Waugh said the case was very rare.
“He’s had hot food and stated, ‘I’ve burned my throat.’
“Then there’s pain and he would have had difficulty swallowing because of the pain and then he would have had more swelling which would have made it difficult to breathe or swallow,” he said.
“Basically, we normally see this scenario in people who are involved in house fires with inhalation of smoke which burns the airways or in industrial accidents with hot steam.
“The patient can appear well, they will be talking to you, but then the swelling starts.”
Mr Hickey visited the urgent care ward at Chorley Hospital after telling his partner Neil Parkinson his throat hurt on the afternoon of April 4.
Later Mr Parkinson heard his partner making noises and found him appearing to choke.
An ambulance was called and paramedics treated Mr Hickey at the scene and he was rushed to Royal Bolton Hospital where he was pronounced dead in the early hours of April 5.
The coroner said the case had raised questions about the care at Chorley Hospital’s urgent care ward, which is run by GTD Healthcare.