A coroner has called on parents everywhere to be vigilant when bathing their children, as tragedy can unfold ‘even in the shallowest of water’.
Coroner Suzanne Anderson made the comment this week, at an inquest into the death of seven-month-old Alex McCartney, a Northern Irish child who passed away from brain injuries sustained when he drowned in bath water.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the Armagh tot was in the bath with two-year-old sister Lily, in January 2015, when the tragedy took place. While the bath was filled with about five inches of water, Alex was also said to have been seated in a special bath seat which was attached to the bottom with suction cups.
The inquest heard how mum Joanne Pedlow went downstairs to let her brother, Richard, and his partner, Nicky, in, going on to boil the kettle in the kitchen, while her two children remained upstairs in the bath. It was Lily’s screams which alerted Joanne, Richard and Nicky to the incident.
“We chatted for about a minute when we heard Lily crying and the three of us went up the stairs. Nicky went into the room first, then Richard, but I didn’t go in, and I heard Nicky squealing. Richard rang for an ambulance and they talked us through CPR. I ran outside to get my neighbour and she came in and started working on Alex," Joanne told the inquest.
“He was quite a big child and was quite heavy, I think he had leaned forward and toppled it (the seat) over.”
By the time they reached the bathroom, they found Alex face-down in the bath. Emergency services were contacted, and every effort was made to resuscitate Alex, but sadly he died from brain injuries at Royal Victoria Hospital four days later.
The inquest heard that the tot passed away from pneumonia and cerebral hypoxia, from ‘probable drowning’.
Just over a year after Alex’s sad passing, the coroner sent an important message out to parents everywhere.
“This has highlighted the important issue for parents about the dangers posed when a child is left unsupervised for a short period of time, and even in the shallowest of water. Hopefully this message will serve to spare the agony this family has had to endure,” Anderson said.
