A 13-month-old boy died from internal bleeding after swallowing a battery, an inquest heard.
Wsam Noorwali was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary when his parents found him vomiting blood at their home in Hamilton, Leicester.
Just under nine hours later – at 7.05am on August 19, 2012 – he was pronounced dead.
An inquest at Leicester Town Hall yesterday heard a post-mortem examination revealed a disc battery the size of a 2p piece in the toddler's stomach.
Dad Anwar, of Brompton Road, described the moment he found his sick son. "At about 10pm, the family was downstairs in the living room," he said.
"I went upstairs to go to the toilet and Wsam must have crawled up after me.
"When I left the bathroom, I heard him crying and saw him at the door to my bedroom.
"I saw him vomit blood."
Mr Noorwali bundled Wsam into his car, along with wife Fatima and other son and drove him to the infirmary.
Wsam was assessed by a doctor at the children's emergency department before being moved to a ward.
His condition at first improved but, at 2.30am and 4am, he suffered further bouts of vomiting.
He was given a blood transfusion and transferred to the children's intensive care unit, where his condition deteriorated.
He was given another blood transfusion, but doctors said he was too weak for an emergency operation. Wsam's heart stopped and medical staff were unable to revive him.
"We were asked to go outside but a while later I saw doctors and medical staff run past us into the emergency unit," said Mr Noorwali."
He said medics tried and tried to save Wsam but after an hour they told him his son had died.
Mr Noorwali told the inquest he was convinced his son had swallowed something and pleaded with doctors to investigate, but to no avail.
"I told them I thought he may have swallowed something which was stuck in his throat.
"But the doctor said 'we need to cure him first, leave it to me'."
Mrs Noorwali said at one point her husband was so angry he was warned about his behaviour.
"One doctor said to my husband 'if you continue to behave like this we are going to call security'," she said.
Mr Noorwali said they did not see Wsam swallow anything in the days before his death but he was prone to putting things in his mouth.
He ruled out the battery coming from the family home and said he suspected Wsam could have swallowed it at the nursery he attended in Leicester.
He said a member of staff told him they had once found Wsam playing with rubbish in the office bin.
James Stafford, owner of the nursery, which was not named at the inquest, said it was not possible Wsam could have been playing with rubbish because the door was always closed and the office always attended.
He said none of the toys in the playroom had disc batteries.
The post-mortem examination was carried out by Dr Roger Malcomson, who said he found a three-volt disc battery "corroded at the edges" and the size of a 2p piece in the boy's stomach.
Dr Malcomson said he found evidence of extensive bleeding in the stomach, with burning and tissue damage to Wsam's gullet which suggested the battery could have been stuck there for several days.
He suggested the vomiting fit could have dislodged the battery, causing it to pass into the stomach, where it would have caused the damage it did in a few hours.
The inquest continues.
