Death of Haverhill five-year-old Maya Sukpe remains a mystery as Suffolk Coroner's Court finds no clear cause
The death of a five-year-old girl from Haverhill will remain a mystery as Suffolk Coroner’s Court has identified no clear medical cause.
Maya Sukpe, of Salisbury Court in the town, died on November 10, 2020, after she became extremely unwell and fell unconscious upon returning home from a ‘normal’ day at school.
Paramedics, ambulance and air ambulance crews attended her home and took her to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge but, later that night, she was pronounced dead.
On Friday, an inquest concluded that her cause of death could not be ascertained, with clinicians still trying to investigate her illness at the time of her death.
Addressing Maya’s parents, Coroner Nigel Parsley said: “I can’t tell you why it happened, really this inquest can only tell you how it didn’t happen.”
The inquest heard that Maya was a ‘healthy and energetic’ child with no previous medical issues. She had been well on the day she died.
But after she got home from school and began painting with her brother, she complained of stomach pain and started vomiting. At around 4.20pm, she fell unconscious prompting her parents, Paul and Aleksandra, to call 999. A paramedic arrived and Maya began to have a seizure.
She was given antibiotics in case of an infection and several other medicines en route to Addenbrooke’s. There, clinicians described Maya as ‘stable’. They planned to slowly wean her off the sedatives to wake her up in the morning and assess her condition.
But shortly after 10pm nurses were alerted to Maya’s room as her heart rate was no longer being registered. CPR was carried out for around 40 minutes, during which time her father arrived at the hospital, but at 11.08pm attempts were stopped.
Clinicians told the court they were still in the process of trying to investigate what was causing Maya’s episode at the time of her death. They had not yet established why she became ill.
The court heard police, who were informed the following morning which DCI Holly Evans said was ‘unusual’ and typically would happen closer to the time of death, investigated possibilities of poisoning but could not find any evidence that the girl had ingested any toxic substances prior to her death.
Toxicology investigations found no toxins in her system which could have contributed to her death.
Maya’s mother Aleksandra questioned whether too much medicine was administered to her daughter and said she feared she could have died as a result.
However, the court heard the drugs were found at therapeutic levels in her system and would not have contributed to the death.
Aleksandra also expressed worries that, as she had been allowed to spend time with and wash her daughter following her death, vital evidence may have been lost.
While post-mortem examiner Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow assured the parents that in this instance no evidence would have been lost in the bathing process, Mr Parsley noted this was something Addenbrooke’s should consider in the future.
The court was told that, just a few weeks prior to Maya’s death, Aleksandra had herself been admitted to intensive care presenting with ‘renal failure’ and had similar symptoms. But a post-mortem examination found no underlying health issues or diseases that could have caused Maya’s sudden episode and identified no cause of death.
Mr Parsley concluded that the cause of death could not be ascertained and opted to record a narrative conclusion that Maya died as a result of a cardiac arrest following her admission to hospital after she collapsed at home.
He said he found no evidence that the medical staff or medicines contributed to the death and that there was nothing to suggest Maya died as a result of toxins or trauma.
“I know that you have been engaged right from the start and have been really helpful to both inspectors and my staff. Thank you for the thoroughly dignified way you have approached these proceedings,” he added.
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