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Inquest is told of uncertainty over the death of bar worker left in care home after collapsing
Woman died two years after stairs fall
A PART-TIME bar worker who was left bed-ridden by a fall two years ago died in unexplained circumstances at a care home, an inquest heard.
Angela Roche, 40, passed away unexpectedly in October at the St John’s Wood Care Centre in Boundary Road, St John’s Wood where she was discovered by care staff cold and not breathing.
Mrs Roche lived in Dickens House in Malvern Road, Kilburn Park, before marrying and moving one street away to Saltram Crescent. St Pancras coroner Dr Andrew Reid said he could not be sure why she died and recorded an open verdict after conflicting expert evidence threw a toxicology report into doubt.
Pathologist Dr Freddie Patel said he thought Mrs Roche died from an amisulpride overdose, a drug she was prescribed, among others, to keep anxiety at bay.
Toxicologist Dr Robert Flanagan, of King’s College, said he didn’t believe the drug was behind her sudden death and suggested toxic levels discovered afterwards could have been misleading.
Mrs Roche’s husband John, an unemployed builder, told the court she fractured her skull two years ago – described as an underlying cause of death – after falling down the stairs outside her home after a night out celebrating her birthday.
Mr Roche, 43, said: “She closed the gate behind me, I turned on the hallway light and then I heard a thud. She’s on the floor at the bottom of the steps.”
A broken stone was found at the top of the stairs by police and the court was also told Mrs Roche had drunk around eight vodka mixers that night. But the fact that she failed to call out as she fell led Dr Reid to suggest she may have collapsed and was unconscious before she hit the ground.
Despite threatening Mr Roche with arrest on the night of her fall for aggressive behaviour, Detective Sergeant Peter Bartlett told the court they did not treat it as suspicious.
Mrs Roche was rushed to hospital but was left with life-changing injuries that meant she could no longer walk or talk properly, eventually becoming mute after doctors removed her voicebox due to complications.
Being unable to talk left her unhappy and frustrated, said Mr Roche.
The day before her death she was visited by her brother Anthony Kilcawley, who discovered she had vomited “all over the floor”.
He described an emotional exchange between the two in which he asked her to indicate if she wanted him to stay with her by holding his hand. She shook it and hugged him, he told the court
Hours later she was found by a nurse.
Explaining why he didn’t think amisulpride killed Mrs Roche, Dr Flanagan told the court: “It’s a safe drug. It will have been given as a calming agent. It’s quite a low dose.”
Although his argument was contradicted by Dr Patel, who said the post mortem examination revealed she died of amisulpride toxicity, Dr Reid accepted Dr Flanagan’s account.
Dr Reid then asked Dr Patel to identify any other possible cause of death.
“It doesn’t leave me with any other option, it’s unexplained,” replied Dr Patel.
Dr Reid said: “It is notable that Mrs Roche didn’t cry for help [when she fell], from which I take inference Mrs Roche may have collapsed before she fell and was already unconscious.
“The cause of death cannot be ascertained and it is not possible to determine the circumstances in which she sustained a brain injury.” |
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