Was teenager killed by cough mixture?

11:15pm Monday 4th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A CORONER has ordered an investigation into whether a Bolton schoolboy died from an asthma attack after taking cough mixture.

John Ridehalgh, aged 15, had never had an asthma attack when he took a dose of Vicks VapoSyrup while suffering from a bad cold.

But within 20 minutes of taking the over-the-counter medicine, John, of Bromley Cross, doubled up in pain, collapsed and was rushed to hospital.He failed to respond to treatment, suffered complications that led to the emergency amputation of his legs and died eight days later.

Yesterday, his father, Paul, told an inquest he believed VapoSyrup “triggered” the asthma attack and the coroner, Martin Symington, agreed to order further tests.

The hearing, in Leicester, where John died, was told that the teenager had been asthmatic since the age of four, but had never had an attack before the incident.

Read more about this story in Tuesday's edition of The Bolton News