Cot-death ‘from suffocation’

Press, 9 November 1984, Page 8

Cot-death ‘from suffocation’

NZPA-PA London A British Home Office pathologist said yesterday that he believed a Welsh couple’s fourth cot-death tragedy in succession was the result of the child suffocating. Most of Britain’s 1000 cotdeaths a year were probably caused by smothering, Dr Donald Whayte told a north Wales inquest. He told the inquest into the death of Adam Bithell, aged seven months, that in many cases cot-deaths were caused by parents being woken in the night by a crying child and made to feel very angry.

“The parents say, ‘for goodness sake, go to sleep,’ the child is placed facedown on the pillow or a hand is placed over his face. “The child becomes quiet and the parent goes to bed. They then wake in the morning to find a dead baby — the classic scenario of cot-deaths.” Earlier, David and Virginia Bithell, both aged 32, told the inquest of the loss of Adam, just three weeks after he was released from six months of special care at a Leicester hospital. The couple’s three earlier babies died in infancy, at eight weeks, 19 days, and six weeks.