A DEVASTATED couple are to sue hospital bosses after their toddler son choked to death, a month after being sent home with a piece of cork lodged in an airway.

Chest X-rays taken at the end of August were not seen by Royal Bolton Hospital's child specialist until the beginning of October, a Bolton inquest heard "because of a backlog due to staff shortage".

Michelle and Robert Cunniffe are taking legal action against Bolton Hospital NHS Trust after the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death on their 14-month-old son Daniel.

Deputy coroner Bill Swalwell heard how Daniel choked to death last October as he was drinking milk.

In a statement issued through their solicitor, Mr and Mrs Cunniffe, of Leigh Road, Westhoughton, said: "We are very disappointed with the verdict of accidental death. In our view it was a catalogue of errors that resulted in the loss of Daniel."

Daniel's parents are taking action for damages for clinical negligence against the Trust. They were too upset to talk in detail about Daniel, who was their only child.

The inquest heard that Daniel's parents first became worried about his health last August.

During an evening spent at a neighbour's house Daniel put something in his mouth.

Waiting

His mother tried to get it out but it had already been swallowed. His parents thought it could have been a sweet.

But the inquest was told that a post mortem examination revealed it was a piece of cork about half a centimetre long.

He seemed to recover and carried on playing. But the next morning Mr and Mrs Cunniffe were worried about his breathing and took him to the accident and emergency department at the Royal Bolton Hospital on August 8.

After waiting for about an hour and not being seen by a doctor Mr and Mrs Cunniffe left.

They took their son to see an emergency doctor on August 16.

On August 30 Daniel's condition deteriorated and his parents were so worried about his coughing and wheezing that they called the emergency doctor. The doctor admitted him to hospital.

The inquest heard that a chest X-ray was taken, but the results, which indicated there could be a foreign body lodged in the main tube leading to one of his lungs, were not presented to consultant paediatrician Dr John Burn until October 1.

Dr Burn told the inquest that he believed there had been a backlog of X-ray reports due to staff shortages in the radiology department.

Mr and Mrs Cunniffe were due to take Daniel for a check-up with Dr Burn on October 5.

But two days before that as he was feeding from a bottle of milk he began to cough and choke. Mr Cunniffe tried to resuscitate him and Daniel was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Bolton Hospital where he died. Between August and October Daniel was prescribed antibiotics to tackle a suspected chest infection and given inhalers after doctors diagnosed asthma.

Dr Burn said: "The episodes of coughing and wheezing suggested asthma, rather than continuous coughing and wheezing which would be more likely to suggest a foreign body."

Pathologist Dr Steven Wells said the cause of death was asphyxia due to a foreign body being lodged in Daniel's main airway.

Mr Swalwell said: "As Daniel was drinking milk he coughed and it dislodged the piece of cork into his throat.

"That blocked his throat and he died of asphyxiation."

A spokesman for the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Daniel's family have taken legal advice in relation to the claim and it would be wholly inappropriate for us to comment, save to say that this is a very tragic case and the family have the Trust's deepest sympathy."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.