On a young spring day in March 2017, five-year-old Lucas Latouche Mazzei dies suddenly and unexpectedly while at Adelaide’s Henley Beach Primary School in South Australia.
The death sends a shock wave through the state.
For mum Daniela, her son’s death is the start of a six-year struggle.
Rarely diagnosed
Lucas was diagnosed with Succinate Semi-Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency (SSADH deficiency), according to the Australian warns News. It is a rare gene defect and a neurometabolic metabolic disease.
The symptoms include delayed language and motor development and mental challenges. Worldwide, around 400 have the diagnosis.
Following strict instructions from the family, the five-year-old was always to be supervised at school. It was due to the danger that the little boy could put deadly objects in his mouth or injure himself in some other way.
Jonathan (20) refuses to stop: – Scary
Day of death
On the fateful day in March 2017, Lucas is sitting in a separate room watching his favorite cartoon “The Gruffalo”, while the other students are doing science in the classroom.
He has a special education teacher with him. At the same time, another teacher sits in an office next door, with a limited overview of the five-year-old.
The teacher leaves the room for a moment. During the short time she is gone, Lucas finds a nectarine.
When she returns, Lucas is lying lifeless on the floor, suffocated by the nectarine stone.
Since the school only has a landline, the teacher has to run to another room in the building to call them. Due to a poor phone signal, she is also unable to contact the emergency services immediately.
When the paramedics finally arrive, they transport Lucas to the local children’s hospital where he is pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
CHOKING: Lucas was choked by a nectarine stone in his throat. Photo: Handout.
sea view
The death shatters an entire community. At the same time, what actually happened on the day of death is hardly investigated. According to the News, no one is put on the wall.
Mum Daniela Mazzei wants to do something about that.
Could have been prevented
The week after Lucas’ death, the school sends out an information letter to all parents stating that “the five-year-old died of complications following an episode related to his medical condition”, which Daniela strongly disagrees with. She believes the school is directly responsible.
For several years, she tries to take the case to court. And only in November 2021 will new investigations be carried out into the circumstances surrounding the death, writes News.
Coroner Ian White was able to present these on Friday last week in the Coroner’s Court:
– Lucas’ death would have been prevented if the staff had only been in the classroom with him the whole time, as they were supposed to, reports White.
Now he is urging the school to review guidelines and procedures around students with special needs and medical conditions. In addition, he reminds of mandatory first aid training for all staff at the school, and adds that all classrooms need portable phones.
– Hurt
Mamma Daniela met the News outside the Coroner’s Court on Friday morning. She says the search for answers has been “extremely hurtful and cruel”.
After Coroner White’s findings were presented, Education Minister Blair Boyer came forward to apologize for how Lucas’ death was handled in 2017. Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell also said it was heartbreaking to read about the boy’s fate.
Neither Boyer nor Westwell were in their current positions in 2017, but both now emphasize that similar situations will be treated completely differently in the future.
– We have been looking for answers since the day he died from us. We have been completely alone in this. It has been heartbreaking and even painful, the mother tells the News.
Now she is just relieved to finally be believed.
2023-05-31 06:24:36
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