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Daniela Zordan and partner Ornella Dal Vecchio |
Prescription drugs did not kill woman, rules coroner
Partner who found body says: ‘We were planning to marry’
A CORONER has rejected a post-mortem report into an HIV positive woman found dead at her Finsbury Park home.
Daniela Zordan, 45, of Hanley Gardens, took up to 12 tablets a day for a number of conditions, including hepatitis C.
A post-mortem report by Dr Freddie Patel gave the cause of death as mixed drug toxicity.
But St Pancras coroner Dr Andrew Reid ruled on Tuesday that Ms Zordan’s death had nothing to do with the combination of prescription drugs, including methadone, found in her blood. He returned an open verdict.
After the inquest, it was revealed that Italian-born Ms Zordan had planned to ask Ornella Dal Vecchio, her partner of 18 years, to “marry” her in a civil partnership ceremony.
Ms Dal Vecchio said that she is considering challenging Dr Reid’s open verdict.
Ms Zordan, a former heroin addict, was found dead in her living room on January 3 this year.
For a month beforehand she had complained of lower back pain after injuring herself playing with her puppy.
The unemployed former secretary and restaurant manager had seen her GP and a doctor from Camidoc, which provides an out-of-hours service, who prescribed painkillers.
Ms Dal Vecchio, who had flown home to Italy for Christmas, told the inquest: “I would call her twice a day and she was in tears on the phone because the back pain was so bad.”
She told the inquest that, on returning home, she noticed the lights were off and the dog was barking at the door.
“I got in through the window and that’s when I found her lying on the floor with the phone by her,” she said.
Dr Reid said the combination of prescription drugs Ms Zordan was taking was nowhere near lethal levels. She took tablets for HIV, hepatitis C, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety.
The coroner added: “There’s no evidence of anything which would cause a sudden death and nothing to explain the lower back pain.”
After the inquest, Ms DalVecchio spoke of Ms Zordan’s battle to beat heroin. She said: “She was an amazing, caring woman, with a big, big heart. Daniela’s family rejected her when she told them she had HIV.
“When Daniela came off heroin five years ago she was really determined and stuck with it.
“I was really hoping to get some answers today but I can’t believe what has happened.”
Ms Dal Vecchio, 49, a medical laboratory assistant, now plans to produce a book in Ms Zordan’s memory using a decade’s worth of her diaries.
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