A 13-year-old girl with a severe dairy allergy died after drinking a Costa Coffee hot chocolate after a “failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies”, an inquest has concluded.
Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe also said there had been “failure of communication” between Hannah Jacobs’ mother and the coffee shop staff.
The teenager died within hours of taking the drink on 8 February 2023, East London coroner’s court was told.
Radcliffe said: “The root cause of this death is a failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies combined with a failure of communication between the mother and the barista.”
The coroner also noted that on the day of her death, “neither Hannah nor her mother were carrying an epi-pen that had been prescribed”.
A postmortem examination found Hannah had died after suffering a hypersensitive anaphylactic reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate.