Death of child may not be due to swallowed coins

A post-mortem examination conducted on a three-year-old child who died at Aluvae on Sunday revealed that the death might not have been due to the coins the boy had swallowed.

Sunil V.A., Circle Inspector, Binanipuram police, who took the statement of the forensic team that performed the post-mortem examination, said that the doctors had found that it might not be possible to attribute the death to the swallowing of the coins. The examination revealed that the boy had swallowed two coins and were found towards the end of his large intestine. It would be possible to ascertain the exact cause of death and prepare an autopsy report only after laboratory results of the child’s blood and viscera samples were obtained.

For testing

The samples were sent for testing on Monday and the child’s body was released to the family.

The post-mortem examination was conducted at the Forensic Department, Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam (at Kalamassery).

The child’s family alleged that despite visiting three hospitals, the child died. The District Hospital at Aluva referred them to the Ernakulam General Hospital. From there, they were referred to the Alappuzha Government Medical College Hospital where they were informed that the coin would pass through faeces.