Lady Joan Branson, the wife of Sir Richard Branson, died after a private hospital failed to administer preventative medication, an inquest has found. The 80-year-old passed away on November 24 after suffering a cardiac arrest at the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, which is owned and operated by HCA Healthcare.
Cause of death
Westminster Coroner's Court was told on Wednesday that she died following a pulmonary embolism — a sudden and life-threatening blockage in a lung artery — brought on by deep vein thrombosis.
The virtual inquest heard that Lady Joan was admitted to the hospital on November 17 after sustaining a fall several weeks earlier on Necker Island, a private luxury retreat in the Caribbean's British Virgin Islands owned by her billionaire husband.
Coroner's conclusion
Professor Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, stated that Lady Joan had not been given prophylactic anticoagulants at the hospital, despite being at a "very high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis".
Delivering her conclusion, the coroner said: "I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably."
