8-Year-Old Child Chokes To Death On Plastic Whistle After Hospital Denies Treatment

An 8-year-old girl in India choked to death after a plastic whistle she was playing with got stuck in her throat.

The incident took place early Monday in the state of Bihar. The girl’s family members told local media doctors in a healthcare facility in Mungar and adjoining Bhagalpur hospital refused treatment to the child, which led to her death, India.com reported.

The child was at home when the plastic whistle got lodged in her throat near the windpipe.

“When the family learned about the incident, they rushed to a primary healthcare facility in Asarganj. Dr Vipin Kumar referred her to Mayaganj hospital in Bhagalpur district. The doctors at the hospital were unable to handle the situation and further referred her to PMCH Patna,” Ramji Thakur, the father of the victim, told India.com.

“We travelled from one hospital to another in auto-rickshaws. While we were on the way to Patna, my daughter lost her life due to excessive pain and breathing difficulty,” he said.

It remains unclear if a formal complaint has been filed against the hospital.

Last year, a newborn baby died in Scotland after authorities refused to dispatch a first responder to help the child. The parents said the life of their 19-day-old baby, Eva, who had trouble breathing, could have been saved if the first responder had arrived on time. In Scotland, trained volunteers or "community lifesavers" are not sent to deal with cases involving children as the deaths could be too traumatic for them.

"The emergency call handler calmly discussed the CPR procedure and told me to apply this to Eva," the child's mother Megan Thrupp told The Daily Record. "My mother desperately waited for a first responder to appear as she could see the strain I was under... They never appeared and after a long 35-minute wait an ambulance arrived and Eva was finally in the hands of the professionals." Following the incident, the mother of the child requested a fresh investigation into the death of her child. The incident took place at a home in Anstruther, Fife.