Girl, nine, suffered cardiac arrest and died after common cold made her asthma worse, inquest hears

A nine-year-old schoolgirl suffered a cardiac arrest and died after her asthma was made worse by a common cold, an inquest heard.

Just moments before collapsing at home, Amelia Stone had phoned her stepfather to tell him she was struggling to breathe and 'felt like she was going to die'.

As the family waited for an ambulance, her mother tried to resuscitate her, a coroner was told.

In the three months before her death, Amelia had been suffering from respiratory issues.

The hearing at Winchester Crown Court was told that her development of asthma combined with her contracting a cold led to her death in December 2022. 

The inquest at heard Amelia from Romsey, Hampshire, first visited hospital in September that year with a wheezy cough.

A doctor found her symptoms were consistent with viral pneumonia so she was discharged.

The following month, Amelia revisited the hospital in Southampton with similar respiratory problems and was discharged after staff believed her symptoms to be consistent with a virus.

On November 14 of that year, the schoolgirl was readmitted - as she was suffering from chest pain and shortness of breath - and this is when doctors first suspected asthma.

She was discharged with steroids and inhalers - which she was advised to take regularly.

Then, on December 4 - after suffering from a cold for a few days - Amelia became unwell.

The inquest heard that at 8.50 in the evening, the youngster called her stepfather Mark and told him she felt like 'she was going to die'.

Minutes later, her mother found her collapsed on the toilet with a 'blue discolouration to her lips'.

Amelia's sister called the ambulance and her mum started to perform CPR on the nine year old.

The inquest heard there was a five-minute delay in answering the 999 call and paramedics didn't arrive at the house for another eight minutes.

However, the coroner said this did not impact the outcome of the situation as the overall response time was still in the prescribed time limit.

'I am sorry that in this incident, we were unable to answer the call to attend Amelia as promptly as we wish,' a representative for the South Central Ambulance Service said in a statement.

Amelia arrived at Southampton General Hospital but the consultant who attended to her said 'this was an unsurvivable situation' and at 10.21pm that evening, resuscitation stopped.

The nine year old was formally pronounced dead at 10.45pm. 

Dr Samantha Holden, Consultant Paediatric Pathologist at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, gave evidence during the inquest on the youngster's cause of death.

She said her lung expansion and mucus on the lungs - among other factors - were synonymous with an individual with asthma.

Dr Holden said on top of this, the nine year old had suffered a viral illness - which was most likely a cold.

The consultant suspected a cause of death as 'exacerbation of asthma'.

Describing this, she said: 'Someone who has asthma gets a virus on top of that and it contributes to each other to create more symptoms and issues.

'I felt that the combination of these, given the history as well, would provide an 'exacerbation of asthma' death.'

Dr Kate Pryde, a consultant general paediatrician at University Hospital Southampton, also gave evidence at the inquest.

She spoke of Amelia's previous admissions to the hospital and said the staff carried out the 'appropriate treatment' for what the nine year old was presenting with at that time.

Christopher Wilkinson - a senior coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton - concluded Amelia died of natural causes.

Discussing the 'desperate events', he said: 'I am satisfied from the evidence that Amelia Grace Stone died whilst in the care of Southampton General Hospital on December, 4, 2022.

'The doctors registered that Amelia had died after a significant amount of resuscitation at 10.45 in the evening.

'That was when the decision was made to stop resuscitation.'

Mr Wilkinson said at this stage 'nothing further could be done'.

He said that during that evening, the youngster had complained of feeling unwell and had a runny nose and a cold.

Discussing her time in the hospital, he said: 'Amelia received the best possible care that she could in the circumstances.

'Amelia died as a result of the acute exacerbation of asthma.'

The coroner said this was 'sudden' and her cold was a 'factor' that contributed to her death.

'There are no suspicious circumstances in relation to the incident,' he added.

'On balance, my view of the evidence that we have heard today is that she was appropriately treated in September and October and a possible asthma condition was identified.'

Mr Wilkinson said he didn't think 'anything more could be done' to change the outcome and offered his condolences to the family in attendance.

'To have lost a daughter at this age is unthinkable,' he said.