Mum called emergency services three times as toddler choked to death on cocktail sausage

Mia Atkins (pictured) died at Darent Valley Hospital in Kent on Sunday, July 1, last year after her airways were blocked when she choked on a cocktail sausage. Photo / Beth Ranger

A 2-year-old girl has died in the UK after her mother desperately tried to call emergency services as her daughter choked on a cocktail sausage.

Mia Atkins, of Greenhithe in Kent, died in hospital after her parents, who argued that medics made a number of errors that led to her death, switched off her life support machine.

While Mia was eating at home, her aunt noticed she was struggling with some food and started slapping her back, Metro UK reports.

The mother, Beth Ranger, dialled 999 for emergency services three times before being connected to a handler, on July 1 last year.

By the time she could get hold of them, which was minutes after her first call, Mia was unconscious.

Beth performed CPR on Mia while an ambulance was sent to the home, but said Mia started "turning blue" and bleeding from her nose and mouth before being sent to hospital.

When she arrived at Darent Valley Hospital, doctors found paramedics had inserted an endotracheal tube into Mia's oesophagus – instead of her windpipe.

Placing the tube in the "wrong place" could have reduced Mia's chance of survival, the court heard during the first hearing.

The inquest was also told that, after paramedics arrived, information was not correctly passed on between nursing staff at the hospital.

A cardiac arrest call was not put out and there was a delay of five minutes before an anaesthetic doctor attended.

A scan later revealed Mia was brain dead, therefore the family had to say their final goodbyes before turning off her life support. She died seven minutes later at 4.08am.

Speaking after the inquest, parents Beth and Liam said they were "disappointed by the basic conclusion" and felt some of the findings were inaccurate and are now considering taking legal action.

"It was quite disappointing. It's been a tough year-and-a-half and we thought it was quite a basic conclusion," the mother said.

During the final day of the inquest, South East Coast Ambulance Service paramedic James Lyle revealed that numbers of emergency call handlers were "grossly under the required level" at the time of Mia's death.

Lyle has repeatedly recommended improvements since, but said it was tricky to retain call handlers because of the "high levels of stress".

Concluding the inquest at Archbishop's Palace on Monday, Coroner Roger Hatch said giving the 2-year-old a small sausage was "unwise" and noted there had been a delay in reaching a call handler.

He also said the endotracheal tube was found in the wrong place, but added Mia's chance of survival from choking was "extremely slim".

A post-mortem examination gave Mia's cause of death as upper airway obstruction.

The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.