Three elderly women caught coronavirus while being treated for falls, inquests hear

Doris Bowen, 90, of Ashbourne Road, in Heath Town, Wolverhampton, caught Covid-19 while being treated at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, for a fall.

She died at Compton Care Hospice, Wolverhampton, on May 13, from the virus, doctors said.

An inquest heard Mrs Bowen, a widowed housewife, was admitted to hospital on March 27 with a suspected broken hip.

On March 29 she underwent an operation which led to a period of immobility, Black Country Coroner's Court was told.

It was during this period that she caught Covid-19. A swab test on April 21 confirmed she had the virus.

On April 24, she was admitted to the hospice for end of life care. By May 9, her condition deteriorated before she died.

Doctors gave her main cause of death as Covid-19 while a contributing factor was the fall.

Surgery

Area coroner for the West Midlands, Joanne Lees, recorded her death as accidental.

She said: "I'm satisfied there was a direct link between the fall, the surgery and her death."

Patricia Hoey, 82, caught coronavirus while she was being treated in hospital for a fall, an inquest heard.

Mrs Hoey, a retired dress-maker and widow who was born in Birmingham, died at Leasowes Intermediate Care Centre, in Smethwick, on May 13.

Black Country Coroner's Court was told Mrs Hoey, who suffered with Alzheimer's disease, fell after turning sharply and losing balance while walking down a corridor at Grafton Lodge care home, in Oldbury.

She was admitted to Sandwell General Hospital, West Bromwich, where she had surgery for a fractured hip on April 22.

While in hospital, she tested positive for Covid-19. She was discharged to Leasowes Intermediate Care Centre on the morning of May 13, where she died later that day.

Doctors gave her cause of death as pneumonia while contributing factors were Covid-19 and a fractured hip.

Frailty

Coroner Lees recorded a short-form narrative conclusion of her death. This was that the fall contributed to a natural death.

Marjorie Guy, 97, of Jubilee Close, in Great Wyrley, caught coronavirus while being treated at hospital for a fall, an inquest heard.

Miss Guy, a retired seamstress, was admitted to Walsall Manor Hospital after she fell at a residential care home.

She had surgery for a fractured hip which led to a period of immobility, Black Country Coroner's Court was told.

This then led to her getting a respiratory infection and contracting Covid-19. She died at the hospital on May 13.

Doctors gave her primary cause of death as Covid-19, while contributing factors were poor mobility, frailty, a fractured hip following a fall and an irregular heart beat.

Coroner Lees said: "I'm satisfied on the evidence that there is a causal connection between the death, the fall and the surgery."

Mrs Lees recorded a short narrative conclusion that the fall contributed to a natural death.