An inquest has heard that a 13-month-old baby boy died after swallowing a battery in August, 2012.
Wsam Noorwali suffered internal bleeding, and was found vomiting blood by his parents at their home in Leicester. The couple rushed him to Leicester Royal Infirmary but he died there just under nine hours later.
An inquest at Leicester Town Hall was told yesterday that a post mortem on the baby revealed a disc battery the size of a 2p piece in his stomach.
His dad Anwar told the hearing he had found his son vomiting at around 10pm at night.
"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 said he rushed Wsam to the infirmary, along with his wife Fatima and their other son.
A doctor in the children's emergency department assessed Wsam before he was admitted to a ward. He was initially thought to be improving, but then threw up more blood at 2.30am and 4am.
His condition further deteriorated after being given a blood transfusion and being moved to the children's intensive care unit.
He was given another blood transfusion, but was deemed too weak for an emergency operation. When his heart subsequently stopped, doctors 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 his dad said.
Mr Noorwali told the hearing that he had pleaded with doctors to investigate the possibility of his son having ingested something, but to no avail.
"I told them I thought he may have swallowed something which was stuck in his throat," he said. "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 his son was prone to putting things in his mouth, but that he hadn't seen him swallow anything in the days before his death. He said that he did not believe the battery came from the family home, and that he suspected his son could have swallowed it at his nursery.
He alleged a member of staff from the nursery school told him they had once found Wsam playing with rubbish in the office bin.
The owner of the nursery, James Stafford, told the court that Wsam could not have accessed the rubbish bin because the door was always closed and the office always attended.
He added none of the toys in the playroom had disc batteries.
Dr Roger Malcomson told the inquest that when he carried out the post mortem on Wsam he found a three-volt disc battery 'corroded at the edges' and the size of a 2p piece in the boy's stomach.
He 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 in his body for several days.
The Leicester Mercury reports that the inquest continues.