Bolton baby ‘will forever be in our hearts’, mum says after death

Two-month-old Blake Robert Thompson Hughes was at home with his parents, Billy Hughes and Jessica Thompson, on April 2 last year when tragedy struck.

He was in a bouncy chair placed on the sofa, which was to keep him away from the family dog in case he accidentally knocked the chair, which had been wedged into the sofa.

Jessica herself was laid on the sofa with one leg up, as this was the only “comfortable” position for her since her c-section, Bolton Coroners’ Court heard.

The mum had given Blake formula milk at 10.30pm and he was due another bottle at 1.30am.

But the mum fell asleep at around midnight while Billy left the room to use the bathroom and when he returned in “minutes”, Jessica’s leg was on top of Blake.

After raising the alarm, assistant coroner Alexander Frodsham heard that Billy and Jessica called the ambulance service and administered CPR to Blake, before the ambulance arrived and took him to Royal Bolton Hospital.

In a statement, Jessica said: “Blake is loved and will forever be in our hearts.”

Blake was transferred to Manchester Children’s Hospital where he was seen by consultants and placed on treatment for brain injury and cardiac arrest.

Ultimately, his life could only be prolonged with support, and the decision was made to turn this off and he died on April 15 last year.

Dr Naomi Carter, forensic pathologist, gave the cause of death as 1A hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy due to asphyxia but said that she could not determine exactly how this came about based on a medical perspective.

Doctors at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital admitted that even if Blake had lived, he would not have had the same quality of life and would be severely impacted by the brain damage.

Dr Sameer Mirza, a consultant paediatrician at the Royal Bolton, said he was made aware that Blake had tested positive for Covid-19 a few weeks beforehand but that this did not impact him at the time.

He said: “He was known to have been exposed to Covid, but him having no other symptoms of it made the cold infection less likely to be a cause for cardiac arrest.

“And I did not feel the need to pursue.”

After hearing all the evidence, Mr Frodsham agreed that the cause of death agreed upon by the pathologist, was 1A hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy due to 1B cardiac respiratory arrest due to 1c asphyxia.

He recorded a short-form narrative conclusion.

Mr Frodsham said: “This is an absolute tragic case and events that unfolded will stay with Blake’s parents for the rest of their lives.”

The court also heard that during the evening of April 2, Blake’s mum Jessica had been smoking cannabis, which she was accustomed to, but said this did not affect her judgement as she was a regular user, though she has since stopped.

Source – INDIA TV