A TEENAGE girl was more than five times over the drink-drive limit when she collapsed at a party, an inquest heard.
Rhona Tavener, 16, had drunk up to half a litre of vodka at the house-warming party at a friend’s home.
She collapsed unconscious and friends had to perform CPR when she stopped breathing as they drove her home.
Rhona, who was studying for her A-levels at The Henley College, was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading but never regained consciousness as she was brain dead.
Four days later, her parents, Aston and Tracie Tavener, of Kingsway, Caversham Park Village, made the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support machine.
The inquest in Reading on Tuesday heard how Rhona was among up to 30 teenagers who attended the party at 17-year-old William Forbes’ parents’ home in Cookham on January 30.
Some took alcohol, including vodka, cider and beer, with them but friends said Rhona did not and was initially seen drinking what was believed to be Coca-Cola out of a paper cup.
Later, she asked a number of young people for a sip of their alcoholic drinks before downing up to three inches of neat Smirnoff vodka from a bottle.
College friend Aryan Kalipour, 17, said after this Rhona fell out of a hammock near the swimming pool.
The inquest heard by this point the teenager was unconscious and so her friends decided to take her home but as she was being carried to Aryan’s’s car, she was sick.
She was placed in the recovery position on the back seat and her parents were called and told Rhona had drunk too much and was on her way home. During the journey, Rhona was heard snoring by 17-year-old Adam Rawlinson, who had volunteered to go with Aryan and the girl.
But as they neared their destination, the boys had to suddenly stop the car and perform CPR after realising Rhona was not breathing.
Believing they had revived her, the pair then continued their journey. Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford asked Aryan: “At this time did you think it would have been appropriate to abandon taking her home and instead go to the hospital?”
He replied: “We were very close to her home. I had no idea where the hospital was.”
When asked a similar question, Adam said: “We were about 30 seconds away from her parents’ house and I thought they would have more idea of what to do. I did what I thought I could.”
Mrs Tavener told the inquest that when she got to the car, her daughter was blue in the face, cold to touch and her eyes were open and vacant. “Rhona was just lying there and to my mind she was already dead,” she said. “There was just no reaction. I shouted at her, slapped her and pinched her shoulder and nothing.”
Mrs Tavener said her daughter did not drink regularly. “She talked about her friends who had got drunk and said how daft they were,” she added.
Rhona was in cardiac arrest when she was taken by ambulance to the hospital and medics described her as “cold and shut down with pupils fixed and dilated”.
No post mortem examination took place as the coroner agreed that Rhona’s organs could be donated to help other people after her death.
Doctors at the hospital concluded that she died from hypoxic brain injury caused by cardiac arrest as a result of alcohol intoxication.
A blood sample taken shortly after Rhona arrived at the hospital showed she had 450mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in her system. The legal limit for driving is 80mg.Police estimated that if the teenager was drinking 40 per cent proof vodka she would have had to have drunk 450ml or half a litre in two hours.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Bedford gave credit to Aryan and Adam for taking responsibility for making sure Rhona got home and reacting when her condition deteriorated.He said: “At the time of arriving in hospital, Rhona had a potentially fatal level of alcohol in her body and I accept that was the trigger for her tragic death. I do not know, however, whether she appreciated that such a level of alcohol could be potentially fatal.”
Patrick Moran, for Rhona’s family, suggested that a rider of neglect could be added to the verdict. But Mr Bedford rejected this, saying he did not believe it was appropriate or made out in the evidence.
In a statement read after the inquest, Mr and Mrs Tavener said: “As time passes by, the pain and loss does not leave our family or those close to Rhona.
“She was a bright, vivacious, straight-A student who loved life. Rhona did not regularly go out drinking or enjoy the effects of alcohol. This is what has made coming to terms with her death even harder because it was so out of character.”
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Published on 19 October 2009
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