Morbidly obese Manchester boy, 13, died after doctors said he was too fat for surgery

A morbidly obese 13-year-old boy who needed a heart transplant died after doctors said he was too fat for surgery, an inquest heard.

Adrian Balog was left receiving palliative care after two hospitals couldn't treat his health problems because of his weight.

Now a coroner has written to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to say that obesity can be as serious a sign of child abuse as starvation.

The Chorlton schoolboy had been morbidly obese since the age of three and was hospitalised with dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition where the organ fails to pump blood properly.

But because of his weight he was not eligible for a heart transplant or any interim measures to prepare him for the operation.

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He was then diagnosed with heparin induced thrombocytopenia, a blood disorder that can cause clots, further preventing any interim measures.

He was transferred from the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, to explore further options.

But they decided there was nothing they could do and he was returned to RMCH where he underwent palliative care before dying 15 days later on April 2, 2015.

In a narrative verdict at an inquest held in Manchester last week his cause of death was given as multiorgan failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, morbid obesity and heparin induced thrombocytopenia.

Adrian was never taught how to eat healthily and had no contact with weight management services in his short life, coroner Zak Golombeck said.

Mr Golombek said: "The deceased died from natural causes contributed to by his longstanding morbid obesity, which itself significantly contributed to his death in that it rendered