A beautiful
fashion student died after choking on a piece of chicken while celebrating her
21st birthday, an inquest heard.
Narinthorn
Alexander, who was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and was studying fashion and
textiles, was found unconscious in a locked toilet at the at Thai Tho
restaurant and karaoke bar in central London.
The inquest
heard that the beautiful student also drank half-a-bottle of Jack Daniels after
having shared some Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky with seven of her friends.
Several
hours after arriving at the eaterie friends discovered the University of West
London student with a pale face and blue lips having thrown up and collapsed in
a locked toilet, the hearing was told.
A piece of
chicken had become trapped in her throat - blocking oxygen to her brain and
causing devastating brain damage, St Pancras Coroner's Court heard.
She had been
celebrating her birthday in March this year after turning 21 two days earlier,
the inquest heard.
A friend
told the inquest: "None of us had eaten all day.
"We
ordered food which took around an hour, we ordered some drinks and my friend
had rose wine between us and the others were drinking Jack Daniels and coke.
"They
started doing shots and went through a whole bottle."
Narinthorn
was later found in the toilet by friends who called an ambulance.
The inquest
also heard, that she only received First Aid treatment when police arrived
because none of the staff were trained and the waiter who opened the locked
toilet door didn't know how to call an ambulance.
Paramedic
Jayden Hedt, who was in the ambulance, told the inquest: "We arrived and
saw the patient lying in the recovery position with the police in attendance.
"From
there we tried to get history about what had happened, but all we know is that
she drank half-a-bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Someone
said she went upstairs to the toilet and had collapsed, she was unresponsive
and very pale.
"I
started chest compressions and we decided we needed to have a good look at her
airway.
"From
there we used forceps and from what we could gather it was quite large chunks
of chicken, enough to cause a significant airways obstruction."
The chicken
caused a hypoxic brain injury and a cardiac arrest on her way to University
College London Hospital, the inquest heard.
She remained
unresponsive in a coma for six days before being declared brain dead and her
life support machine was switched off, the hearing was told.
Coroner Mary
Hassel concluded that the student's collapse on March 11 could not have been
prevented as it was a result of her drinking too much,
Her best
friend told the inquest : "She was funny and loved to have a
laugh."We had a few drinks and had fun.
"She
was a very nice friendly girl, she always made you laugh, she had a great
personality, she was one of my best friends. I didn't think she was drinking
that much, just Jack Daniels with mixers and having a good time.'
"When
the food did arrive she did have a tiny bit to eat. She was starting to feel a
bit tipsy. It got to the point where she came over and whispered in my ear and
said 'I'm going to the toilet, I will be right back.'
"I'm
not sure how long she disappeared for.
"Later
her boyfriend came downstairs and told me that Narinthorn was sick upstairs and
she had passed out. When I went into the toilet I found her unconscious on the
floor.
"She
was not responding at all I had never seen her like that. Her friend was
holding her head up, she was lying with her head back, I was shaking her trying
to wake her up.
"It was
really scary. Her face was pale and her lips were blue and her eyes were half
open, you could only see the white bit."
The cause of
death was given as a hypoxic brain injury, hypoxic cardiac arrest, asphyxiation
vomitus, and alcohol toxicity.
Coroner Mary
Elizabeth Hassel said: "All of the evidence points in the same direction,
Narinthorn went out with friends and she just wanted to have a nice evening.
"She
drank alcohol which had been bought from the restaurant and also drank alcohol
which the group had brought with them, she drank too much.
"Her
friends did not notice that she had drunk significantly more than on other
occasions until she had been found in the toilet.
"She
was already hypoxic and had already suffered a lack of oxygen to her blood
supply.
"She
had vomited and choked on her vomit and because of her asphyxiation, she was
not able to clear her own airways. She had a lack of oxygen to the brain that
caused brain damage that was unrecoverable.'
"I
wanted to explore the role of the restaurant staff, Narinthorn's parents wrote
to me and were concerned about rumours they had heard about restaurant staff.
"It
seems to me that there were two things going on here, it seems to me that any
organisation which deals with the public should at least make sure that staff
knows how to call an ambulance.
"But
that did not make any difference at all to Narinthorn and her friends called an
ambulance and it was her friends who realised how ill she was.
"What
underlies all of this is alcohol I'm afraid. "Her death was alcohol
related."
Source: The
Sun UK
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