A teenager died from an allergic reaction after eating a burrito containing sesame while travelling in Mexico, a Coroner has ruled. Joe Dobson, 19, had gone out to a restaurant with friends in the seaside resort town of Playa del Carmen in the Mexican region of Quintana Roo.
After relaxing on the beach and visiting shops in the town on November 1 last year, Joe and his pals went to a fusion restaurant they had been to before to order a vegetarian burrito. He asked the staff multiple times in Spanish and English to make sure there was no sesame in the food, the coroners' court heard.
Coroner Mark Taylor said that Joe was allergic to sesame, eggs, milk and peanuts. Friends described how after just three bites, Joe knew there was sesame in it but that restaurant staff didn't seem concerned about his allergy and wouldn't call an ambulance.
He had left his EpiPen at their apartment but by the time they got back and used it it was too late. He fell unconscious and died later in hospital. In a statement read out by the coroner at South London Coroner's Court in Croydon, Harriet Preston, a friend of Joe's, said she had gone to visit him and they were sharing an Airbnb together.
She said: "I have known Joe for three years. He had never failed to celebrate my achievements with me, no matter how small. I was aware of his medical condition and that he carried medication with him. I was visiting him while he was working there.
"We had a normal day, chilling on the beach, going to town, looking around the shops. We decided to eat at a fusion restaurant where they had been before. Joe ordered a vegetarian burrito and said no sesame and used the Spanish word.
"After ordering, there was communication between them to ensure there was no sesame in his meal. When the food arrived, it was sent back as Joe believed it contained sesame."
Joe tried to tell the staff at the restaurant in basic English that if he eats sesame he will die. Harriet continued through her statement: "Joe's meal arrived again and I watched him put his torch light over it. He took two bites and said no, that's got it in it.
"He went over to the bar staff, they were in denial. He could feel it in his throat. He said he needed an ambulance but the staff were reluctant. The staff did not treat our situation like what it was. There was no basic first aid or knowledge."
Coroner Mark Taylor added: "The staff told him to drink some honey and lemon liquid and he did so to keep them quiet it seems."
A second friend who was also there on the night called Ryan said that Joe made his allergies clear to the staff at the restaurant and that they had eaten there before with no problems. He said in a statement to the court: "This time he noticed the burrito looked different.
"He sent it back but it looked no different. He repeated his allergies multiple times. He took one to three bites, he felt something was wrong. He let the group know. He did not have his EpiPen on him. He was becoming more urgent in his requests, had the honey drink.
"He went to the apartment to get his EpiPen. He ran to the taxi and the driver was very casual, walking slowly to the door. He did not understand the severity at all.
"This escalated by the time we got to the apartment. Joe went straight to the lifts. He fell over. I ran upstairs to get the pens, got them and ran back down. Joe had managed to crawl into the lift and come up to our floor so I dragged him out of the lift and got the pens out but the pens did not help him."
Londoner Joe became increasingly unable to breath and slipped into unconsciousness. A police car took him to the local hospital but doctors were unable to revive him and he died that evening.
Coroner Taylor said: "It seems there was a gap of 10-15 minutes before the pen could be used. I have no evidence to tell me whether it would have made any difference in terms of outcome. I suspect there are a good many factors to take into account, the amount of sesame and absorbtion factors.
"It seems very clear to me that Joe did all he reasonably could have done to warn the restaurant not to serve him food containing sesame and even checked himself. And it is very clear to me that it was the sesame in the food served by the restaurant that caused the allergic reaction.
"Joe acted unwittingly in eating the food with sesame which caused the fatal reaction.
"This should not have happened and to someone like Joe of his age."
