It’s like something out of a fairy tale: Blushing virgin shares love’s first kiss with a noble and good-hearted suitor, then falls into a deep sleep from which she never awakes. Except it really happened, and the deep sleep was acute anaphylaxis, and the cause was a peanut allergy.
Allergic reactions are part of life. At the very least they’re inconvenient, and they can be very serious. But doctors have understood the mechanism of the reaction for years, and have time-tested protocols for dealing with it. A fatality from an allergic reaction is nearly unheard of these days.
One can’t help but wonder what aggravating circumstances accompanied this story. Was this an undiagnosed allergy? Why didn’t this girl have an epinephrine injector with her? Why were doctors not able to treat her with epinephrine and antihistamines quickly enough to reverse the reaction?
And, of course, the obvious question no one wants to ask: What part, if any, did Canada’s notoriously problematic nationalized health service play in this girl’s death? We can only speculate at this point, thanks to the most minimal reporting by the Associated Press, but when an otherwise healthy girl dies of a reaction that should not have been life-threatening and that doctors everywhere know how to treat, certain questions just spring naturally to mind. Like why did this girl not receive the expected standard of care, and what stood between her and life-saving medical attention?
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