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A university student holidaying in Morocco with her mother died after eating a meal at a restaurant in Rabat. Eighteen-year-old Lily King suffered a severe allergic reaction after consuming a «chicken and chips» dish. The student was on a week-long trip to Morocco with her mother, Aicha, to celebrate getting top marks in her first year of university, according to reports from the Daily Mail.
On June 19, the final day of their holiday, Aicha and Lily visited a restaurant and lounge in Rabat they had previously dined at. Aicha, who is Moroccan and speaks Arabic, explicitly informed the waitstaff about her daughter's allergies to dairy, fish, shellfish, sesame, and nuts, and detailed «what she could and could not eat», as her husband Michael, 73, told MailOnline.
Lily ordered a simple chicken and chips. After taking a bite, she «developed a severe reaction which saw her vomit and run outside as she battled to breathe», according to the same source. Her father recounted, «She got an itchy throat, which developed into sickness, stomach cramps and breathing problems». He added, «She used her Epi-pen, which she carried with her at all times».
To catch her breath, Lily went outside, but restaurant staff allegedly told the mother that «she couldn't leave without paying the bill». Michael King said, «They delayed her from leaving the restaurant by a few minutes that could have actually saved Lily's life».
Aicha recalled, «I explained to him [the waiter] in Arabic three times 'Please be careful, she is very, very allergic.' He says 'Yeah no worry, we careful’». When Lily started getting sick, the mother «told the restaurant, 'my daughter [is] dying outside.' He said to me, 'to pay the bill before you're leaving’». Aicha desperately tried to call an ambulance, but with vital minutes slipping away, she was forced to take Lily to the hospital in their car.
Mr. King noted it took 30 minutes for Lily to reach the hospital, by which time she had already suffered a heart attack. He stated, «After the heart attack, she had a catatonic fit which destroyed her brain, and she was basically diagnosed as being brain dead».
The parents decided to let Lily go after being told there was no brain function detectable. «We told them exactly what happened in the restaurant. But on the death certificate that was issued subsequently, they said her cause of death was a heart attack», they said.
The father believes that «her meal must have contained an allergen or suffered some cross-contamination». He added, «There's no other cause I can imagine that could have caused her to stop breathing».
Lily had managed her allergies carefully since birth, though they worsened at university, leading to an anaphylactic shock from a burger at a music festival and subsequent kidney infections, though she recovered before her trip to Morocco.
Lily died on June 23 and had two autopsies, one in Morocco and another in England, before her body was released to her parents and she was buried in Beaconsfield on July 10. Her father said that Moroccan police launched an investigation into the restaurant, which has since been handed over to the prosecutor. «We were told we would be notified about the next steps», he said.
