Teenager ‘killed by his lip piercing’
A BOY of 17 died of blood poisoning after having his lip pierced.
Daniel Hindle became seriously ill with septicaemia nearly two weeks after he and his girlfriend had piercings on the same day, an inquest heard yesterday.
His mother, Christina Anderson, told the hearing she believed the piercing had killed him.
Daniel was born with a heart defect but was able to live a normal life.
When he developed a fever and started vomiting, his mother feared it could be the old heart problem.
She said she recalled talking to a doctor when Daniel was admitted to hospital in October 2002.
‘I thought it was something to do with his heart, but he told me Daniel had septicaemia and it was the most severe kind,’ she told Sheffield Coroner’s Court.
‘He said Daniel had only a 5 per cent chance of recovery. In effect, he was telling me Daniel was going to die. It was then that I told him about the lip piercing.
‘Going back over the events, he seemed to agree that that would be the cause of the injury.’
Miss Anderson said she had been appalled when Daniel arrived home with a ring through his lip.
‘ Daniel was quite proud of it. He thought it looked cool,’ she said. ‘My first reaction was shock and horror. “Eurgh”, I thought. I suppose it’s a normal motherly reaction.’
She broke down in the witness box as she told the inquest her son, a keen snowboarder, was in the ‘prime of his life’.
He had been born with a heart valve missing and needed two operations before he was five.
She said he had another operation when he was 12 and doctors warned he could develop heart problems at puberty.
But at his last check- up, the month before he had his lip pierced, he was given the all- clear.
Miss Anderson said she called a doctor when Daniel developed a fever nearly two weeks after the piercing.
Dr Dhavendra Kumar, the locum who arrived, took two minutes to examine him before prescribing medicine for an upset stomach.
Miss Anderson said the doctor did not ask for Daniel’s medical history despite the huge scar on his chest from heart surgery. Two days later, after Daniel started hallucinating, he was taken to Sheffield Northern General hospital by ambulance.
He died on December 21, 2002.
Daniel’s girlfriend told the inquest of her fears about hygiene at Body Poppers in Sheffield, where the piercings were carried out.
Naomi Storey, 21, said the woman who pierced her eyebrow had removed the needle’s cap with her teeth. She said her own piercing later became infected.
The inquest continues.