A 2-year-old girl who was taken to hospital after she ingested toilet cleaner died a week later.
Arietta Grace Barnett, a British toddler, was playing with her elder sister when she swallowed the toilet cleaner. She vomited “bright pink” fluid and was hurried to the doctor for examination. The doctors discharged the child, saying that she is in stable condition.
One week after the discharge from the hospital, the baby died. The incident took place on June 28 last year at a small village of Sarisbury. The mother said, “I heard her yelling, ‘Mummy help me’ while she was playing with the 4-year-old sister. I ran to the hospital immediately”.
The girl got admitted on June 28 and was declared well enough to go home on June 2. A week later, on June 9, she puked a dark pink fluid and was rushed to hospital where she died.
Initially, she was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal tract infection, but her death was followed by cardiac arrest. The baby had a nose bleed and blood vomit before she died.
The mother who brought Arietta to the hospital told doctors that the girl had swallowed Toilet Duck capsules. In conversation with media, the hospital staff said, “The capsules that, according to the mother she swallowed, are blue-green. However, the fluid she spitted was dark pink. This doesn’t make sense.”
Luck Cook, the victim’s mother, was having pink hairs when she brought her daughter to the hospital, but she confirmed that there’s no pink dye present at her home. A pediatrician at the hospital said that children are usually intrigued to play with colorful things that look like sweets.
“Arietta was earlier struggling to ingest food and fluids, but later she improved and stopped vomiting,” said a doctor at Southampton General Hospital.”
After searching the toilet bleach ingredients on google, the doctors concluded that her esophagus is not damaged as the bleach is not much toxic. Later the case was referred to a pediatrician who declared that the child’s esophagus was damaged.
The exact cause of the death remained a mystery, and police took the case for investigation.