The inquest into the death of Lady Joan Branson, wife of Sir Richard Branson, concluded that the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, failed to provide preventative anticoagulant medication, which contributed to her death. Lady Joan, aged 80, died on 24 November 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest caused by a pulmonary embolism resulting from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) ¹.

Senior coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox stated that despite Lady Joan being at a “very high risk” of developing DVT due to her immobility and a recent fracture, she did not receive prophylactic anticoagulants during her hospital stay from 17 November. Haematologist Dr George Adams testified that Lady Joan’s immobility and fracture were significant risk factors for blood clots. The hospital’s admitting doctor, Dr Basir Kunduzi, did not complete a bleeding risk assessment on the day of her admission. Professor Wilcox emphasized that the case was not one of neglect and that there was no absence of treatment, but the lack of anticoagulation likely caused or contributed to Lady Joan’s death ¹.

Footnotes

1. Yahoo News. (n.d.). Lady Joan’s death linked to lack of medication. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/lady-joans-death-linked-lack-190928891.html ↩ ↩²

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