Dad, 36, died before Christmas after catastrophic head injury during night shift at The Harbour in Blackpool
Mystery over what caused fall which led to death while on night shift
A 36-year-old dad died after suffering a catastrophic head injury in a fall during a night shift at work just over a week before Christmas.
David Wade was a health care assistant at The Harbour mental health facility in Blackpool, where he was in an office on one of the wards at around 4am when he took the fatal tumble, hitting his head as he fell.
An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that no colleagues saw the fall, but they came to his aid immediately after hearing a crash and seeing him lying prone on the floor.
He had not complained of any pain or ill health during his shift, said Blackpool and Fylde chief coroner Alan Wilson.
After the fall, Mr Wade suffered a seizure, for which a doctor on site at The Harbour administered diazepam, but Mr Wade was unresponsive and an ambulance was called to take him to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
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There, after assessment in the emergency department, he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, where his condition deteriorated and he died the following day.
His cause of death was subdural haematoma - a catastrophic brain injury caused by the fall and subsequently hitting his head.
Mr Wilson said that, while there was no doubting the cause of Mr Wade’s death, a key question was what had caused him to fall.
Mr Wade’s wife Natalie told the inquest that several years earlier, he had experienced a brief blackout after feeling dizzy following a night shift but had otherwise been fully fit.
A post mortem examination of Mr Wade’s heart found no sign of coronary artery disease or a heart attack.
But pathologist Dr Muhammad Aslam said arrhythmia - an abnormal heart rhythm that occurs when the electrical signals coordinating heartbeats don’t work properly - could not be ruled out.
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Sometimes known as sudden adult death syndrome (SADS), it doesn’t necessarily show up on post-mortem examination.
Mr Wilson returned a conclusion of accidental death, as he said it was clear that Mr Wade’s death was due to the fall. If a cause for the fall had been ascertained, that could point towards natural causes, he added.
He offered his condolences to Mr Wade’s family and thanked them for the fact that following his death, many of his organs had been donated to help others.