Woman, 64, died in Blackpool Victoria Hospital five weeks after fracturing right knee in a fall

A 64-year-old woman from Kirkham died after being rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital following a collapse in her garden five weeks after fracturing her right knee in a fall.

Linda Wheeler, of Regency Crescent, had suffered a pulmonary embolism resulting from a deep vein thrombosis.

She went into cardiac arrest which in turn led to a hypoxic brain injury through lack of oxygen, from which she never recovered and she died on May 28 this year.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that she had fractured her right knee in a fall from a kerb on April 21 and was fitted with a knee brace.

She was not issued with any prophylactic medication at the time of having the knee treated at the Vic’s emergency department but at an orthopaedic review just over a week later, was advised to take 50mg of aspirin a day to prevent possible blood clotting.

But it was not known whether Ms Wheeler, who had Crohn’s disease, had taken the aspirin.

On a follow-up appointment at the hospital, she was fitted with a new, more flexible knee brace and the injury seemed to be recovering well, but some time later, she felt dizzy and fell to the ground in her garden and was rushed to the emergency department.

Blackpool and Fylde senior coroner Alan Wilson recorded her cause of death as hypoxic brain injury following the pulmonary embolism caused by the deep vein thrombosis which was prompted by the fracture resulting from the original fall.

He returned a conclusion of accidental death, as the fall had started the sequence of events which ultimately proved fatal.