Autopsy doesn’t clear concerns on teen’s death

Fairway boy died when feeding tube dislodged

? A 15-year-old Kansas boy hospitalized after a serious bicycle accident died when a feeding tube became dislodged in his abdomen, an autopsy showed.

Jake Clough’s bike collided with a truck in February in Prairie Village, Kan. Jake, of Fairway, Kan., emerged from a coma in mid-March at University of Kansas Hospital. He was transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and died a week later, on March 22.

Jake was wearing a helmet but still suffered a serious head injury in the accident. The autopsy cited the injury as a “significant contributing condition” in his death.

A Children’s Mercy spokesman said federal law prohibited the hospital from commenting on the autopsy report or the circumstances surrounding Jake’s death without permission from his family.

Jake’s father, Tom Clough, obtained a copy of the report Monday. “We still have many unanswered questions with Children’s Mercy,” Clough said.

The autopsy indicated that the teen died of complications from an inflammation of the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity. The death was classified as accidental.

A feeding tube “was dislodged from the stomach and opened directly into the abdomen,” the report said.