https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwall-infant-died-amid-language-10696005
10
December 2025
Cornwall
infant died amid language barrier and 'lack of professional
curiosity'
A
nine-month-old baby died after a language barrier sparked
complications in her treatment, an inquest has heard.
Izzah
Fatima Ali was just nine months old when she died at Royal Cornwall
Hospital at Treliske, Truro, on September 7, 2024.
An
inquest into her death which concluded in Truro yesterday (Tuesday,
December 9) heard she had become increasingly unwell over a period of
weeks, having been regularly fed cow’s milk by her parents who were
unaware of the risks.
Her
mother, Mrs Ali, had moved to Cornwall from Pakistan while 30 weeks
pregnant and did not speak any English. She was therefore reliant on
her husband, who was described by nurses as extremely attentive,
supportive and kind to his wife and child, to translate any
appointments with health professionals.
The
inquest heard the parents had sought medical attention for their
daughter on a number of occasions and that during these appointments,
they told staff their child was “bottle fed” - but, they were
never asked what they meant by this.
Andrew
Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall and Isle of Scilly, said in his
findings there was “an element of assumption made here”, which
could be described as a “lack of professional curiosity”.
He
noted bottle fed could mean formula or expressed breast milk. In this
case, he said it was expressed cow's milk, but “no health care
professional established that”.
The
inquest heard Izzah’s parents were provided with a council-issued
guide to feeding one’s child - An Essential Guide to Feeding Your
Baby - but this was only available in English and did not contain
information about the risks of feeding a baby cow’s milk.
The
coroner noted a UNICEF version of the guide which does contain that
information does exist and is available in Urdu - but this was not
provided.
Mr
Cox said that despite Izzah’s father having “excellent English”,
English was not his first language, and so all interactions in a
health care setting should have been in the presence of an
interpreter. But, he said, that did not happen. […]
A
representative for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said there
have been investigations into the events surrounding Izzah’s death
with measures including mandatory use of interpreters where English
is not a patient’s first language.
