The incident happened on June 28 2017 when Karanbir Cheema a student in London was hit by the cheese on his neck.
What seemed like a harmless prank quickly turned serious and Karanbir was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital in critical condition.
Despite medical efforts he passed away days later.
Karanbir’s parents faced the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support. In an interview with This Morning his mother Rina recalled their last moments together.
She said We did not want to switch it off it was not fair on his little body to go through this. He smiled when the machine was turned off. They took him into another room and we said our last goodbyes before he was taken down and he had a smile on his face.
The loss shocked Karanbir’s family friends and school community.
Karanbir carried an EpiPen for emergencies but it was discovered that the device was nearly a year expired. This raised concerns about whether up to date medical treatment could have prevented his death.
The adrenaline from the expired EpiPen was the only dose he received before his condition worsened and led to cardiac arrest.
The boy who threw the cheese said he was just playing around and did not realize the danger.
Though unintentional the incident had devastating consequences and highlighted the need for greater allergy awareness and safety measures in schools.
Medical experts found the case especially unusual because the allergic reaction was triggered by skin contact with the cheese rather than ingestion a rare and unprecedented situation.
During the 2019 inquest Dr Adam Fox a pediatric allergy consultant explained the extraordinary nature of the event calling it unprecedented for a fatal allergic reaction to occur from skin contact alone.
The coroner described the boy’s actions as childish and thoughtless but not meant to cause serious harm.
Coroner Mary Hassell also criticized the school for missing an opportunity to educate about the severity of Karanbir’s allergies and for providing inadequate healthcare.
Ultimately Karanbir’s death was caused by a severe allergic reaction to dairy after contact with the cheese combined with delayed and insufficient medical treatment a tragic and unforeseen outcome.
