A CORONER has concluded that a two-year-old died from natural causes.
The inquest was held on April 17 and found that Teegan Mai Pennell had died from a rare complication of a common respiratory infection after she was admitted to Burnley General Hospital on on October 23 2014 with croup like symptoms.
Coroner Simon Jones invited consultant paediatric intensivist Dr Stephen Playfor to provide an independent review of the care and treatment Teegan received.
He said Teegan had died as a result of an obstruction of her central airway, caused by the respiratory virus human metapneumovirus.
He said the obstruction was a ‘rare complication’ of the virus, which had only been discovered in 2001.
Dr Playfor said that Teegan would have made a full recovery if doctors had inserted a breathing tube into the toddler – a procedure known as interbation.
But he said he did not believe any paediatrician in the country would have done this because of the risks involved for young patients.
The inquest was continued on April 19 where the coroner concluded Teegan had died of natural causes.
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