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.