‘Unascertained’ verdict in death of weeks-old tot
ONE-MONTH-OLD BOY FOUND UNRESPONSIVE IN DAD’S ARMS
A ONE-MONTH-OLD baby was found unresponsive in his dad’s arms in Gedling before being pronounced dead an hour later.
Jordan Armstrong died on April 29 after being found to be looking “white” by mum Beth Sadler in the crook of dad Jake Armstrong’s arm at just before 7am.
The infant was found to have been in a healthy condition before his death by a pathologist, who determined his cause of death as “unascertained”.
Leading an inquest into the infant’s death at Nottingham Council House on Wednesday, assistant coroner Elizabeth Didcock was unable to determine a cause of death, leaving it as an open conclusion.
She said it was “very difficult” to give a conclusion. Giving evidence, detective sergeant at Nottinghamshire Police, Ruth Walker, who responded to the incident after being called by East Midlands Ambulance Service said Ms Sadler was “distraught” during interviews.
Relaying Ms Sadler and Mr Armstrong’s accounts, she said the mum had woken up to feed Jordan at 4.30am before putting him back to bed.
“She woke at 6.50am and saw Jake was holding Jordan in bed. Beth saw Jordan’s head was on Jake’s shoulder but was facing upwards and bleeding,” she said.
Mr Armstrong then woke up and attempted to perform CPR on Jordan, who appeared “floppy”.
Sadly he couldn’t be resuscitated by his dad, paramedics or staff at Queen’s Medical Centre and was pronounced dead at 8am.
Ms Walker also told the inquest that the parents had tested positive for cannabis in their blood tests.
Police did not take the matter further as there were no identified suspicious circumstances and no evidence the death had been caused by an overlay.
Dr Andreas Marnerides, the pathologist who carried out the post mortem at St Thomas’ Hospital, said that there were no findings that indicated a cause of death, and therefore said it was unascertained or sudden unexpected death in infancy.
“Anything that can interfere with the mechanisms of the airways would increase the risk of such deaths,” he said. “So with the risk of overheating, imagine a small baby next to a much bigger body with a temperature around 37C. It’s a big heat difference.”
“It’s also a risk if they’re in a confined area and the concentration of carbon dioxide is higher.
“The chance of an accidental overlay is also increased.
“We know there is an increased risk in co-sleeping, the best example we have is when there were campaigns globally in putting babies to sleep on their own there was a dramatic decrease in deaths in infants.” However, Dr Marnerides stressed there was no evidence of this in Jordan’s case. Concluding, Ms Didcock said: “It’s clear that
Beth and Jake had been using cannabis in the hours before Jordan’s death. Exactly what effect that would have is impossible to say.”
Beth saw Jordan’s head was on Jake’s shoulder but was facing upwards and bleeding. Det Sgt Ruth Walker