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Inquest verdict on baby tragedy
A FOUR-MONTH-OLD baby found unconscious by his father's side at the family home in Westbury died of natural causes, an inquest decided today.
A post mortem examination on baby Tafari Williams could not find anything to indicate a cause of death.
Coroner Terrance Moore, sitting in Flax Bourton, heard how Tafari was found by his mother Esther, at just after 7am on June 27, 2007.
Tafari, who had been lying next to his sleeping father Marlon on cushions at their home in Merlin Court, was rushed to the Royal United Hospital in Bath but died at 8.15am.
A statement compiled by Detective Constable Beverley Pitchford described Mr and Mrs Williams as 'doting parents' and said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Tafari's death.
The inquest heard how Jamaican-born Mr Williams returned from work at the Ludlow Arms in Westbury at about 11am on June 26.
He shared alcohol and a spliff with a friend and kept checking on Tafari while his wife slept.
Mr Williams gave Tafari 7ozs of milk from a bottle, before changing his nappy and eventually lying on cushions with him.
When Mrs Williams found them in the morning, her husband's head was on Tafari's stomach. The baby would not stir and Mrs Williams carried out
emergency first aid, including chest compressions.
A full post mortem examination, carried out by Dr Marian Malone at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, could not find a cause of death.
Tafari's lung capacity, skeleton, and blood tests were all normal, and there were no signs of infection or haemorrhage.
Tafari had weighed 2.86kg when he was born at the RUH and measured 56cms in length.
Regular health checks were carried out by professionals, the last being on June 20.
Mr Moore said: "There is, as Dr Malone has said, no evidence to suggest this was anything other than a natural cause, so the cause of death entered is sudden and tragic."
Verdict: natural causes.
1:28pm Thursday 27th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: Michael Ryan, Shrewsbury on 3:30pm Sat 29 Mar 08
As a parent who lost an infant daughter over 20 years ago, I have some knowledge of the grief that a parent feels in such a tragic case and it's only in recent years - ie after the death of one of my sons that I've become aware of the link between industrial PM2.5 air pollution and a range of illnesses and also premature deaths at all ages.
Professors Chay and Greenstone noticed the decline in infant mortality from 1970-1990 after the US Clean Air Act and they later proved the association between air pollution and infant mortality - just as many other academics.
Here in the UK, no public health team has bothered to look at pooled infant mortality data around any industrial source of PM2.5s to see the difference in rates between the upwind and downwind zones.
The University of Coventry has an infant mortality research project underway and I noticed that the five Coventry electoral wards with the highest 2003-6 infant mortality rates were in a single group immediately downwind of the incinerator. I also saw that the two Coventry wards with the lowest rates [both zero] were also in a single group that was upwind of the incinerator.
My map of electoral wards in Coventry can be found via link on the left-hand side of the home page at www.ukhr.org
Kind regards,
Michael Ryan,
Shrewsbury
As a parent who lost an infant daughter over 20 years ago, I have some knowledge of the grief that a parent feels in such a tragic case and it's only in recent years - ie after the death of one of my sons that I've become aware of the link between industrial PM2.5 air pollution and a range of illnesses and also premature deaths at all ages.
Professors Chay and Greenstone noticed the decline in infant mortality from 1970-1990 after the US Clean Air Act and they later proved the association between air pollution and infant mortality - just as many other academics.
Here in the UK, no public health team has bothered to look at pooled infant mortality data around any industrial source of PM2.5s to see the difference in rates between the upwind and downwind zones.
The University of Coventry has an infant mortality research project underway and I noticed that the five Coventry electoral wards with the highest 2003-6 infant mortality rates were in a single group immediately downwind of the incinerator. I also saw that the two Coventry wards with the lowest rates were also in a single group that was upwind of the incinerator.
My map of electoral wards in Coventry can be found via link on the left-hand side of the home page at www.ukhr.org
Kind regards,
Michael Ryan,
Shrewsbury
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