Posted on 12/02/2022 3:47:27 PM PST by nickcarraway
A TEENAGER died suddenly after he said he'd been bitten by a spider - just weeks after complaints were made about an infestation in his building.
Harry Bolton, 19, was found dead by his housemates with a gaping wound the size of a £1 coin on his back.
Just days earlier the promising second year university student had told a friend he was feeling unwell after being bitten by a spider, and went to A & E.
And weeks prior others in the University of Hull student accommodation complex had complained to their landlord of a spider infestation.
An inquest heard how on October 7 last year Harry's housemate realised he hadn't responded to a text message.
When he arrived home from work that night he and another housemate knocked on Harry's door.
The pair got no response, so phoned site security and they came down and broke his door down.
The light was on and they found Harry laying on his back on his bed.
His eyes and mouth were open and he was cold to touch - and they realised his chest was not moving.
The group frantically phoned emergency services, who raced to the shared house on Chancellor's Walk, Hull.
When paramedics arrived they confirmed Harry was not breathing, had no heartbeat and tragically declared him dead at the scene.
But, while checking him over they noticed a £1-sized gaping wound on his back, which appeared to be infected.
The hearing heard how just four days earlier Harry had told a pal a spider had bitten him on his back, and he was not feeling well.
His friend suggested he go to A&E so he did - and walked into the Hull Royal Infirmary that night with a high temperature and a high heart rate.
A blood sample was taken and nothing of high risk was detected - although another blood test indicated there was inflammation.
But Ben Rayer, an A&E consultant at hospital, said this was not something that would be flagged up by the labs as a matter of immediate risk.
In the early hours of the next morning, Harry discharged himself and hospital staff said they had no reason to believe the teen did not have the capacity to do so.
Just hours later was the last time Harry was seen by his housemates.
One of which, Kacper-Krysztof Zydron, told the hearing how he had experienced a similar spider bite just two months prior.
Had he not been bitten by an invertebrate, possibly a spider, he would not have died at that time. It is an incredibly unfortunate case.
Paul MarksCoroner He said the bite, which was on his neck, first started off "hurting a bit", but over a few days it was so bad that he could not move his neck.
Kacper said he went to A&E and was told to take some paracetamol, which did not work.
He then talked to his parents and they helped him remove the pus from the infection, before he phoned his GP and asked for antibiotics to heal the wound and clear the infection.
The housemate then emailed Ashcourt Student Housing about a problem with spiders and sent a follow up photo of one.
It was found to be a common house spider and the inquest heard an inspection by the maintenance team found no infestation.
A clause in the tenancy agreement also stated that low-level pest intrusions were the responsibility of tenants.
After Harry's death, pest control was called for the peace of mind of the tenants and a survey was carried out.
Sticky traps were laid out. It revealed that there was a normal number of insects in the house given the time of the year.
Coroner Paul Marks determined that Harry's death was caused by sepsis, due to an acute chest infection, due to an infected wound on his back.
He said: "Had he not been bitten by an invertebrate, possibly a spider, he would not have died at that time. It is an incredibly unfortunate case. He had a promising future ahead of him."
After his death, a JustGiving fundraising site raised more than £1,600 in Harry's memory for Eczema Research.
It would be nice to identify what country this happened.
I assume it’s England.
The 1 pound coin and University of Hull references didn’t provide enough clues?
Agree -> “flat”.
“£1-sized gaping wound” should be enough of clue.
It would be.
I’ve never heard of Hull.
If it was Cambridge or Oxford, sure...
Good thing he was vaccinated…
I’d have thought that being British spider your super powers would be bad teeth and a fondness for bad cuisine.
“It would be nice to identify what country this happened.”
Link: UK Edition
Hull would too, but if I didn’t know what the symbol was and where Hull is, I wouldn’t know where it was either.
take ur blinders off!
Men are disposable, no one in the UK cares at all.
What kind of spider?
I agree with the need to post location names. This should not be a guessing game.
It is a common problem on FR. Postings often do not identify a U.S. state or country where the event took place.
The great NHS strikes again.
Abysmal UK socialized medicine can’t even deal with infected insect bite resulting in sepsis.
Yeah it’s in England. Also one in Quebec just across the river from Ottawa. Regardless it was a Hull of a way to go.
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