A private hospital’s failure to administer preventative medication contributed to the death of Lady Joan Branson, an inquest has concluded.
The 80-year-old wife of billionaire Sir Richard Branson died on 24 November last year after suffering a cardiac arrest at the Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London.
Westminster Coroner’s Court heard on Wednesday that Lady Joan was admitted on 17 November following a fall weeks earlier on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, which is owned by her husband.
Senior Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox said Lady Joan did not receive prophylactic anticoagulants during her stay despite being at a “very high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis.”
“I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably,” Prof. Wilcox said.
The court heard that Lady Joan, who was born in Glasgow, died from a pulmonary embolism, a sudden and dangerous blockage in a lung artery caused by deep vein thrombosis.
Haematologist Dr George Adams told the inquest that Lady Joan was “extremely high risk” for blood clots, adding that “the biggest risk factor by far was her immobility and her fracture.”
From admission to her death, she received no prophylactic anticoagulation, which is used to prevent blood clots from forming.
The inquest also heard that the hospital’s admitting doctor, Dr Basir Kunduzi, did not complete a bleeding risk assessment on the day she was admitted.
Dr Kunduzi said Lady Joan’s death had made him “reflect on my role as a doctor” and the need for “good communication between team members.”
In her conclusion, Prof. Wilcox said the case was “not a case of neglect” and there “wasn’t an absence of treatment.”
Following her death, Sir Richard described his wife as the “shining star around which our family’s universe has always orbited.”
