Student with nut allergy died four years after anaphylactic shock at banquet

A woman with a severe peanut allergy died after suffering an anaphylactic shock in West London, an inquest heard.

Tania Kaur Khasriya had been dining in the Mehfil Restaurant in Southall for her brother’s pre-wedding clebration.

West London Coroner’s Court was told that the dish she ate at the North Indian restaurant is likely to have contained nuts.

The 24-year-old was rushed to Ealing Hospital, but when her condition failed to improve, she was relocated to a nursing centre in Buckinghamshire.

Statements from medical professionals at Chalfont Lodge said Tania ‘could not physically or verbally communicate’ any sense of ‘pain and distress’ and it was ‘unclear’ as to whether she could understand anything said to her.

The inquest into her death heard she had her palliative care withdrawn with the consent of her family after doctors deemed her to have no quality of life – four years after the incident.

Senior coroner Lydia Brown, recording a conclusion of accidental death, said the ‘distressing’ sequence of events at the banquet led to the student’s death in April last year.

‘Tania had a catastrophic collapse at the wedding banquet of her brother in July 2018,’ she said.

‘On the balance of probabilities, this was an anaphylactic response to a dish with nuts.

‘It had not been possible to establish what she ate, but due to the severity of her response, this was indeed an anaphylactic response to her exposure.

‘This was clearly an unwanted and unexpected outcome to what was meant to have been the most joyous of occasions. It is a terrible loss to her family.’

A previous hearing was told Tania was first diagnosed with the nut allergy in 1997, when she was just one year old.

Her family claim they had told Mehfil Restaurant about the allergy but the owners have disputed this.

Director, Rashmi Raikhy, provided booking forms which made no mention of any allergies and stressed that the Khasriya family were ‘regular’ customers.

‘There was a tasting for the family members to try the food and Tania attended along with members of her family,’ he said.

‘One of the dishes was Sadabahar Paneer. Cashew nuts were used for the marinade for the paneer.

‘The family didn’t want the paneer, but the request was explicitly about the paneer and not the nuts. They had another paneer dish.

‘I spoke with Mr Khasriya who said Tania had liked the food and enjoyed the meal despite being quite a fussy eater. We were not told that anyone attending had any allergies.

‘We were made aware of the very sad death of Tania. I would like to say that we extend our sympathies to her family for their loss.’

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