Sspeaking after the conclusion of the inquest, Benedict's mother Helen Blythe said: 'Three and a half years ago, we lost our son. Benedict died in a place where he should have been safe - his school. 'Benedict's death was preventable and was caused by a cascade of failures -individual, institutional, and systemic.'
Actually, no. For once, there’s no one to blame except fate, cruel nature and happenstance.
Factors which the jury found 'probably caused' Benedict's death include the delayed administration of his adrenaline, opportunities for cross-contamination or mix up of milk, and that his allergy plan was not shared with teaching staff.
On Wednesday, the foreperson of the jury at Peterborough Town Hall said: 'We deem the probable source of the allergen that caused the fatal anaphylaxis is the ingestion of cow's milk protein, most probably from his own receptacle during break time.'
So, did staff stanfd around with their thiumbs up their arses, doing nothing? Reader, of course not.
The inquest heard Benedict's adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered twice by a teaching assistant, before CPR and a defibrillator were attempted but he died later that day at Peterborough City Hospital.
They had the equipment, they had the training, and it still didn't help. And of course, the grieving parents want something to change.
'We demand change. We call on this government to protect our children with Benedict's Law, making it mandatory to have an allergy policy in every school, staff allergy training including understanding allergies, how to manage them and identify signs of a reaction, and respond quickly in an emergency, and spare adrenaline allergy pens in every school.
They had all that, and it still didn't work. So how about you campaign for a law that all children with such life-threatening allergies be raised well away from normal life instead? It'd make more sense.
