An elderly woman died of shock after she broke her

An elderly woman died of shock after she broke her leg as a physiotherapist tried to help her walk in hospital, an inquest heard.

Frail widow Nesta Dearden, 86, had fractured the thigh bone twice in 48 hours – once in a nursing home and again when she was being helped to walk.

The trauma of the second operation was too much for her and she later died of a heart attack.

Westminster coroner, Dr Paul Knapman said: ‘It’s particularly disappointing that when someone’s in hospital having just had an operation, they fall again.

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He said Mrs Dearden’s brittle bones meant that the slightest pressure could have resulted in a fracture.

Her son Charles Dearden, of (5) Ryefield, Oakham, in the West Midlands, said Mrs Dearden had been in and out of hospital since 1998 – breaking legs on three occasions.

The first break was while living at St Michael’s nursing home, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, where she fractured her right femur in 1998.

She moved to St Mary’s nursing home, Tooting Bec Gardens, south London when she broke her left thigh bone in November last year.

After an operation on November 7 ‘it was anticipated she would improve as she had done before.

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But the day after her second operation she felt faint and sick when she was being helped to walk and fell to the floor.

Mrs Dearden died two days later.

Her son said: ‘We were concerned that if she was going to have fainting fits, particular safety measures ought to have been in place.

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Physiotherapist Anna Savill, at St George’s Hospital told the court said that Mrs Dearden appeared to be vomiting when she fell and her first concern was to get her in the recovery position.

‘We simply had to put her on the floor,’ Ms Savill said.

Dr Knapman, summarising the evidence, said the cause of the woman’s collapse was not clear.

‘There were staff there who were concerned about an even more serious problem than a broken leg – is this person going to choke?

‘This was a controlled lowering and generally speaking that would be okay.

‘But in a person who recently had an operation, any twisting movement could have adverse effects, as occurred in this case.

‘She died when she did because of this fall.

I make no observations about peripheral matters such as attribution of blame or compensation which seems
to arise in so many cases where people die in hospital.

‘It’s not my job to pronounce on these things.

However, I’m satisfied we’ve heard sufficient evidence that it should be categorised as an accidental death.

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Dr Knapman said the first cause of death was heart disease, and the second an osteoporotic fracture of the femur.

Verdict: Accident.

ends