Rotherham boy who "inhaled" drawing pin died by accident - coroner
Kyle Lewis died in October 2022 after swallowing a drawing pin at his uncle's home
Last updated 18th Jan 2024
An inquest into the death of a five-year-old boy from Rotherham, who died after swallowing a drawing pin, has ruled he died by way of an accident.
Kyle Lewis was taken to Rotherham Hospital from his uncle's home on the 26th October 2022, after inhaling the pin.
He suffered four cardiac arrests during treatment, before being moved to Leeds General Infirmary, where he died two days later.
During the inquest, Dr. Amar Joshi, who was part of the team who operated on the five-year-old, insisted everything in the theatre was done in a "professional manner".
Speaking at the final day of the hearing, Dr. Geoffrey Perring from Sheffield Children's Hospital said medical teams "did their best" to save the boy's life.
He also said the risks of transferring Kyle to another hospital before his operation would’ve been "vastly too high" due to the risk of total airway obstruction.
But in his review of the case, he said there was "no clear leadership" in the operating theatre at Rotherham Hospital, although leadership was present in all staff there.
He added Kyle could have been better positioned by operating staff, which could have improved his chances of surviving.
Dr. Perring said there were lessons to be learnt from Kyle's death, including making sure district hospital staff are more familiar with paediatric emergencies.
In a statement read to the coroner's court, his parents claimed they had been given "false hope" about Kyle's survival chances.
The coroner said she was satisfied that recommendations have been accepted or acted upon.
"There is not a day goes by that we don't think about Kyle" - family
In a statement given to heat radio, his parents described him as "full of mischief" adding "there is not a day goes by that we don't think about Kyle".
His parents thanked the team at Leeds General Infirmary for their care, saying: ". During Kyle’s final hours and days, they let us lay in bed and cuddle Kyle.
They would play Jurassic World to him, because they knew it was his favourite.
"Nothing was too much as they knew every minute and second with Kyle was so important as it could be our last."
Philip Le Shirley from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Kyle in this difficult time.
"The key message for parents, is to reinforce to children they shouldn't be having anything around their mouth.
"It's food and that's it, they shouldn't be playing with drawing pins or a cocktail stick. And that is a difficult message.
"As we've seen with this case, it only takes one product to do an irreparable amount of damage."