Allergies, how many more will have to die?

It's just as bad for adults with allergies, especially if you have multiple ones as I do, people can get really angry with me, they think it's some kind of affectation or attention seeking. It' even worse tht doctors and hospitals can be among the worst for ignoring allergies, I've had spats with phlebotomists about latex gloves and I'm really allergic to latex, so much so that the same hospital had an absolute fit about how allergic I am and had to specially clean an operating theatre for me. They couldn't cope with my food allergies, they could just about cope with my not eating meat and fish, but they wern't happy, I Was served soup that had meat in, but said it was vegetable soup, they tried giving me cheese when I'm lactose intolerant and when I asked for vegan food, said you weren't allowed to be vegan unless ot was OK'd by a dietician which there was at least a two week wait for. I spent a week living on marmite on toast, I was lucky to get an Asian doctor who said that lots of people couldn't cope with the food and I needed to go home and eat my food and discharged me, I was so glad. It didn't help that I'd also been given a drug that I told them I was allergic too, they decided when I was unconcious that it was OK if I had it IV, it wasn't. I've had penecillin prescribed for me and numerous other drugs I'm allergic too under a different name because they thik it will be OK if I don't know what I'm taking.

Allergies are really life altering, I'm lucky I've never had amphylactic shock, but I've come close, it really changes things like going out for a meal, a coffee, a drink, even getting a takeaway. I think my allergies are more limiting that ASC.

An article re increase of food allergies in children.

https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-large-rise-in-food-allergies-among-children-in-the-uk-237803

Pixiefox said:

Treats can be purchased in supermarkets where the labels can be checked.

Unfortunately, it seems that checking labels isn't guaranteed to be safe either. In this case (which I read about at the time), a store failed to change the labelling to reflect the addition of an allergen to an existing (previously safe) product by the manufacturer: 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/family-dancer-25-who-died-32921161 

I don't know if the Head Teacher attended the inquest, or if there will be an inquiry into the part the school played by not allowing her to carry her autoinjector. I hope so.

It seems that this case was a cluster of errors.  First the untrained coffee shop staff. Then the dentist who allegedly failed to recognise and treat anaphylaxis. Then the pharmacist who did not have an adult autoinjector in stock. And of course, the school. It is very sad - there were several points where the right intervention might have helped - who knows?

I can understand if you've always been alright with a product from a particular place, you mentally mark it as safe, I almost never eat anything outside my home and often can't even find a sandwich I can eat. Supermarkets are not really any better to be honest, certainly not for takeaway food.

Epi pens are a huge issue, schools often don't like pupils having them because they have a needle and teachers have to decide if and when one can be used. But the biggest problem is the length of the needle, it's to short, epinephrine needs to be injected into a muscle,usually the thigh, the needles are so short that they barely get through even a healthy layer of fat and skin.

I remember that incident, GBT, that's one of the problems people think it's a laugh or just not important, one of the reasons I never eat in Chinese restaurants or takeawys is that I simply don't believe them, whren they say somethings veggie or dosen't have MSG in it. I've found bits of meat and fish in my supposedly veggie chow mein, I've been given stuff with MSG in it, which I'm really allergic too. Now probably unfairly I just avoid them all, I'm allergic to jasmine too and I can't stand sitting near someone who has jasmine rice or tea as the smell sets me off.

Sometimes you can't avoid allergens, I didn't know how allergic I was to strong perfume, until I walked into Debenhams one day and got a faceful of perfume someone had been spraying about. My facce felt like it was on fire, my eyes were burning and lips were swelling, I turned straight around and found a bathroom where I could wash my face and try and get it off me. There was no other door into the store, so I just stopped going there and it was the only dept store in town.

I agree Ian, if somebody can't pass a simple test then they shouldn't be working there, the only other test I can  think of where you'd be allowed to resit that many times is a driving test, and that's frightening enough! It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that staff are properly trained and aware. I would persue a negligent manslaughter charge against the manager or shift supervisor, I'd also shut the place down whilst inquiries are on going.

That’s awful story. I worked in McDonald’s for 4 years and there was no training about allergens at all! There was only a list of them and that’s it. We were instructed to work with certain products in disposable gloves. Once one family ordered ice cream with caramel sauce. While preparing them I noticed, that there was something wrong with the caramel. It smelled of peanut butter. It turned out someone confused the both sauces and loaded peanut butter sauce into the dispenser for caramel (they have similar colors). It turned out it’s good I reacted because the customer was allergic to nuts. Working in gastronomy is very responsible and also low salary. I feel sorry for the family of this girl. 

They said on BBC Radio 4 that the girl's school did not allow students to carry their own auto-injectors, they had to leave them in the office. If this is accurate, it means that a Head Teacher decided that students were > not allowed < to have access to life-saving medical devices when travelling to and from school.

The guidance  [ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a829e3940f0b6230269bcf4/Adrenaline_auto_injectors_in_schools.pdf ] states:

" Depending on their level of understanding and competence, children and particularly teenagers should carry their AAI(s) on their person at all times or they should be quickly and easily accessible at all times. ... It is not uncommon for schools (often primary schools) to request a pupil’s AAI(s) are left in school to avoid the situation where a pupil or their family forgets to bring the AAI(s) to school each day. Where this occurs, the pupil must still have access to an AAI when travelling to and from school."
 

also https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf :

"  Wherever possible, children should be allowed to carry their own medicines and relevant devices or should be able to access their medicines for self-medication quickly and easily. Children who can take their medicines themselves or manage procedures may require an appropriate level of supervision. If it is not appropriate for
a child to self-manage, relevant staff should help to administer medicines and manage procedures for them."

The person responsible is the manager or shift supervisor. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 it is the responsibility of the owner or manager to ensure that employees are trained and supervised. I heard on the radio that staff had just a short online allergy presentation, including a multichoice quiz. One employee only "passed" on their twentieth attempt. If they can't pass after two or three attempts, with additional support and training if needed, they should be fired.

I always watch them prepare my drink.

That is a tragic story, but unfortunately we all have to take responsibility for ourselves and our dependents - you can't rely on other people to do the correct thing, and errors happen.

If it was me with a life threatening allergy, I wouldn't go anywhere without an epipen and would not order anything that might result in me getting an allergen by mistake. Treats can be purchased in supermarkets where the labels can be checked. A few restrictions on the way your life is lived are preferable to dying unnecessarily.

I agree, some people have absolutely disgusting attitudes to allergies. I’ve seen some awful comments left on social media posts. I also think a teen boy died at school a few years back because bullies threw cheese at him at lunchtime. Thankfully my allergies aren’t life threatening but I do get extremely uncomfortable symptoms. In this particular case I can’t see there being any legal action taken as hot chocolate with non dairy milk is marked as ‘may contain milk’ in the allergy guide on the chains website but that should’ve been communicated which I think the barista said they did, but I find some coffee shops so loud when they’re using blenders and steaming the milk.

Also the girl mum had no epipen and silly to order hot chocolate before the dentist. I've got to be careful with coconut and certain eggs (I can only have hen)

I reckon that the person who served her is probably already suffering enough without a manslaughter charge. It's tragic.

I don't know what the solution is. The server is likely someone young who was hoping for a job with few responsibilities, and didn't ever think that something like this would happen. No one will want to work for minimum wage if a manslaughter charge was possible for being forgetful about milk in a busy shop. I'm not belittling this. It's awful. I take my own milk when I go out, and I only have intolerances (not saying people should do that - just saying that I don't trust the system)

There definitely should be something done to increase public awareness.