Baby died after her mother's pain relief patch became attached to her

A baby died after a pain relief patch became attached to her skin while she slept with her mother, an inquest has heard.

Little Amelia Cooper was just 15 months old when she was found lifeless in her mother Sara Talbot's bed in Cornwall in June of 2016.

A coroner has now been told her likely cause of death was when Amelia had come into contact with her mother's medication after sharing a bed with her. 

A fentanyl opioid patch, which is stronger than morphine, can cause seizures, a reduction in breathing and blood pressure, and when levels are high, it can be fatal.

Fentanyl is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug, with the effects identical, but it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin. 

It is thought the patch was stuck to the little girl's stomach for a 'period of time' allowing the pain relief drug to get into her body.


Amelia, of Newquay, Cornwall, was described as a 'normal' and 'healthy' child prior to her death.

A toxicology report found the drug in Amelia's blood, bile and hair samples, but not in the stomach content. 

Pathologist Dr Debbie Cook told the hearing at Bodmin Magistrates Court: 'There were no external injuries to contribute to the death, there were no natural disease and the relevant findings are the toxicological findings.'

Dr Cook told the court that blood samples revealed a level of fentanyl in Amelia, which was within the range of an adult who dies of fentanyl toxicity. 





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