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Camden New Journal - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 1 November 2007

Widow died from complications after fracturing her pelvis in fall

A 90-YEAR-OLD woman managed to lift herself up and climb the stairs at her home despite fracturing her pelvis in a fall, an inquest has heard.
Widow Margaret Howard fell while cooking a boiled egg in the kitchen of her home in Highgate Road, Kentish Town, in December 2005.
A long-term sufferer of chronic arthritis, she had a Careline buzzer installed in her home. When care workers arrived at the house after attending another call they found her standing upright.
After staying with her for 15 minutes and making her hot milk, they left, unaware that she had fractured her pelvic bone.
Careline care officer Tim Cook said: “She didn’t complain of any pain. She just wanted to sit down.”
Care worker Ruth Andrews added: “She was quite insistent that she didn’t want medical assistance.
“Any sort of bang to the head and we would have taken her to the hospital.”
Mrs Howard’s daughter Anne Kitchener said: “She could be a little bit stubborn, so she probably said she was fine but if she had gone [to hospital], I don’t know...”
Jenny Brown, her regular carer at Homecare Partnership, found Mrs Howard in her bedroom in a state of anxiety the next morning, December 29. She took her to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.
Ms Kitchener said when she saw her mother in hospital she knew there was something wrong as her breathing was abnormal.
She fetched a member of staff, who suggested that Mrs Howard was suffering from a chest infection.
St Pancras coroner Dr Andrew Reid explained that when a bone is fractured, blood clots are a common occurrence.
In the absence of official papers from the hospital, Dr Reid assumed doctors had ruled out prescribing “clot-busting” drugs in case they caused a stroke.
Dr Reid said that while it was not for him to determine negligence, Mrs Howard’s suffering as a result of the fall must have become more acute the following morning.
He concluded that she died as a result of complications of the fracture.

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