Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
An inquest has determined that the death of Lady Joan Branson was partly due to a private hospital’s failure to administer preventive medication. Lady Joan, aged 80 and wife of Sir Richard Branson, passed away on 24 November last year after experiencing a cardiac arrest at the Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London.
Professor Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner at Westminster Coroner’s Court, explained that despite Lady Joan being at a very high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT), she was not given prophylactic anticoagulants during her stay. “I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably,” the coroner stated.
Lady Joan was admitted to the hospital on 17 November following a fall sustained weeks earlier on Necker Island, the British Virgin Island owned by her husband. The cause of death was identified as a pulmonary embolism, a sudden blockage in a lung artery caused by DVT. Haematologist Dr George Adams described Lady Joan as being “extremely high risk” for blood clots, highlighting her immobility and the fracture she sustained as the primary risk factors.
Throughout her hospitalization, no prophylactic anticoagulation was administered to Lady Joan. The admitting doctor, Dr Basir Kunduzi, did not carry out a bleeding risk assessment upon admission. Reflecting on the incident, Dr Kunduzi remarked that her death led him to “reflect on my role as a doctor” and emphasized the importance of “good communication between team members.” However, Professor Wilcox clarified that this was “not a case of neglect” and that there “wasn’t an absence of treatment.” Following her passing, Sir Richard Branson remembered Lady Joan as the “shining star around which our family’s universe has always orbited.
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.