The nurses "were not authorised" to inject the drug

Jake McGeough died after he was given a muscle relaxant rather than a sedative at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, the inquest jury was told on Monday.

Jake, who was 18-months-old and from Blackburn, Lancashire, was being treated for heart and lung problems when the mistake was made in 2001.

Coroner Andre Rebello described the tragedy as "every parent's worst nightmare".

The hearing was told Jake became restless after being taken for a routine lung scan by two nurses, on 7 July that year.

Almost immediately [Jake's] mouth dropped open and his eyes half closed Keira McGeough

However, instead of administering the sedative, one of the nurses injected him with the muscle relaxant Vecuronium.

Jake's mother, Keira, was with her son when the mistake was made.

In a statement read out in court she said: "Almost immediately his mouth dropped open and his eyes half closed.

"Prior to the injection he was breathing very fast, as soon as it was given his chest stopped moving."

Mrs McGeough, who has three other young children, added: "I began to panic. I couldn't get my words out, I couldn't tell them he wasn't breathing."

'Not authorised'

The muscle relaxant, which should only be given to patients on artificial ventilators, stopped Jake from breathing, the inquest heard.

He was revived but died the next day, in the early hours of 8 July.

The court heard that the muscle relaxant was in a syringe alongside the sedative.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Jane Ratcliffe, who was running the intensive care unit, said: "The nurses were not authorised to give the medication."

'Human error'

The muscle relaxant should not even have accompanied him on his trolley to the scan, she said.

Dr Ratcliffe said: "I was not aware the drugs had accompanied Jake.

"There was no need for them. In any event there was no doctor present, so they could not be used anyway."

She said his death was the result of human error.

The inquest continues.