A routine hospital visit for treatment of a cough ended in heartbreak for the Francois family when six-year-old Jasher Francois died suddenly at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital on Thursday morning.

His grieving parents are demanding a full investigation and answers, they say, have not been provided.

An autopsy performed at the hospital’s mortuary yesterday listed the cause of death as aspiration pneumonitis, likely triggered by viral pneumonia. According to medical literature, aspiration pneumonitis is a serious lung condition caused by the inhalation of foreign substances like vomit or saliva, particularly in patients whose respiratory defences are weakened by infection. It can lead to inflammation, pneumonia and, in severe cases, death.