Lady Joan Branson, 80, died after suffering a cardiac arrest at the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea after the inquest found she was not given preventative blood clot medication despite being at very high risk
A private hospital’s failure to administer preventative medication contributed to the death of Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s wife, an inquest has found.
Lady Joan Branson, 80, passed away on November 24 after suffering a cardiac arrest at the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, which is owned and run by HCA Healthcare.
Westminster Coroner’s Court was told on Wednesday that she died following a pulmonary embolism, a sudden, life-threatening blockage in a lung artery, caused by deep vein thrombosis. The virtual inquest heard that Lady Joan was admitted to the hospital on November 17 after a fall weeks earlier on Necker Island – a private luxury retreat in the Caribbean’s British Virgin Islands owned by her billionaire husband.
Lady Joan described the fall to her GP as “tripping over some slippers by the bed” and was diagnosed with sustained fractures of the pelvis and fractures of the right hip, the virtual inquest heard.
Haematologist Dr George Adams informed the inquest that Lady Joan was “extremely high risk” for blood clots and the “biggest risk factor by far was her immobility and her fracture”.
Glasgow-born Lady Joan did not receive any prophylactic anticoagulation – the preventative use of treatments to stop dangerous blood clots from forming – from her hospital admission to her death.
Dr Adams expressed his belief that this played a part in her death, stating that prophylactic anticoagulation “reduces the number of clots and the size of those clots”, adding: “More likely than not, it would have reduced the chances of her having a fatal pulmonary embolism.”
The Imperial academic, who wasn’t involved in Lady Joan’s care, added that “appropriate anticoagulation” would have “probably prevented her from dying”.
Professor Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, described Lady Joan as a “wonderful woman” who was “unfailingly kind”. Delivering her conclusion, Professor Wilcox stated it was “not a case of neglect” and there “wasn’t an absence of treatment”.
The coroner said Lady Joan did not receive prophylactic anticoagulants at the hospital despite a “very high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis”. In 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.”
Lady Joan also did not receive an immediate Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) assessment to check her risk of developing harmful blood clots, the inquest heard. Dr Adams said “any patient who comes into hospital should have an immediate VTE assessment to determine their risk of bleeding”.
Lady Joan’s daughter, Dr Holly Branson, informed the inquest that her mother was not provided with Thrombo-Embolus Deterrent stockings – designed to prevent deep vein thrombosis by promoting blood flow in the lower legs – for the first 48 hours after being admitted.
The hospital’s admitting doctor, Dr Basir Kunduzi, failed to complete a bleeding risk assessment on the day of her admission, the inquest heard. Dr Kunduzi stated Lady Joan “should have been on anti-coagulants” and her death led him to “reflect on my role as a doctor” and the importance of “good communication between team members”.
Resident medical officer Dr Nevil Pavithran told the inquest that Lady Joan “should have received her first dose of anticoagulation prophylaxis within 12 hours of admission”, adding this not happening posed a “significant risk”. The doctor confessed he had “spent quite a lot of time going over the incidents” and felt he “should have been more forceful”.
Lady Joan’s consultant, Dr Inaki Bovil, said there had been a “lot of work at the Lister to make it more robust around VTE and risk prevention” and to “prevent this from happening again”.
Following her death, Sir Richard described his wife as the “shining star around which our family’s universe has always orbited”.
Paying homage to Lady Joan, Sir Richard penned: “Life will never be the same without her. But we have 50 incredible years of memories – years filled with tears and laughter, kindness and a love that shaped our family more than words could ever capture. It was a relationship that worked. We just had lots of laughs. We were very lucky.”
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