Death by toast at NHS hospital

A Severely ill patient on a strict "soft food diet" choked to death at a hospital after nurses gave him toast.

Martin Jennings,36, who had problems swallowing, died following "gross failure" at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham when lumps of toast became lodged in his windpipe.



Despite a warning notice on his bed and nurses being aware Mr Jennings could not eat solid food, Birmingham coroner's court heard they gave him toast because he wanted it.

The court was even told that the nurses "believed it was the patient's basic human rights" to have toast if he demanded it.

Birmingham Coroner Aidan Cotter reached a verdict that Mr Jennings' death was an accident in which neglect contributed.