Private hospital’s failures ‘contributed to death of Sir Richard Branson’s wife’

Lady Joan Branson, 80, died on November 24 after suffering a cardiac arrest at the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, after the inquest concluded her death would likely have been prevented had she received anticoagulation treatment

A private hospital’s failure to administer preventative medication played a part in the death of Sir Richard Branson’s wife, an inquest has determined.

Lady Joan Branson, 80, passed away on November 24 following cardiac arrest at the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, which is owned and run by HCA Healthcare.

Westminster Coroner’s Court was told on Wednesday that her death resulted from a pulmonary embolism, a sudden, life-threatening obstruction in a lung artery, caused by deep vein thrombosis.

The virtual inquest was informed that Lady Joan was taken into hospital on November 17 following a fall several weeks before on Necker Island – a private luxury retreat in the Caribbean’s British Virgin Islands belonging to her billionaire husband.

Lady Joan told her GP the fall happened when she was “tripping over some slippers by the bed” and was found to have sustained fractures of the pelvis and fractures of the right hip, the virtual inquest was told.

Haematologist Dr George Adams informed the inquest that Lady Joan was “extremely high risk” for blood clots and the “biggest risk factor by far was her immobility and her fracture”.

Glasgow-born Lady Joan was not given any prophylactic anticoagulation – the preventative use of treatments to stop dangerous blood clots from forming – from the time of her hospital admission until her death. Dr Adams stated that he believed this played a part in her death, noting that prophylactic anticoagulation “reduces the number of clots and the size of those clots”, and adding: “More likely than not, it would have reduced the chances of her having a fatal pulmonary embolism.”

The Imperial academic, who had no involvement in Lady Joan’s care, further noted that “appropriate anticoagulation” would have “probably prevented her from dying”.

Professor Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, paid tribute to Lady Joan as a “wonderful woman” who was “unfailingly kind”.

Delivering her conclusion, Professor Wilcox stated it was “not a case of neglect” and there “wasn’t an absence of treatment”.

Despite Lady Joan being at a “very high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis”, the coroner noted she had not been given prophylactic anticoagulants while in hospital.

The coroner concluded: “I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably.”

The inquest also heard that Lady Joan was not given an immediate Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) assessment to evaluate her risk of developing dangerous blood clots.

Dr Adams stressed that “any patient who comes into hospital should have an immediate VTE assessment to determine their risk of bleeding”. Lady Joan’s daughter, Dr Holly Branson, informed the inquest that her mother was also without Thrombo-Embolus Deterrent stockings – devices designed to prevent deep vein thrombosis by stimulating blood circulation in the lower legs – during the first 48 hours following her admission.

The inquest heard that the hospital’s admitting doctor, Dr Basir Kunduzi, failed to carry out a bleeding risk assessment on the day Lady Joan was admitted.

Dr Kunduzi acknowledged that Lady Joan “should have been on anti-coagulants”, adding that her death led him to “reflect on my role as a doctor” and the importance of “good communication between team members”.

Resident medical officer Dr Nevil Pavithran, who was likewise involved in Lady Joan’s care, told the inquest that she “should have received her first dose of anticoagulation prophylaxis within 12 hours of admission”, warning that this failure to do so created a “significant risk”.

The doctor revealed he had “spent quite a lot of time going over the incidents” and confessed he felt he “should have been more forceful”.

Lady Joan’s consultant, Dr Inaki Bovil, noted there had been a “lot of work at the Lister to make it more robust around VTE and risk prevention” and to “prevent this from happening again”.

Following her passing, Sir Richard paid tribute to his wife, describing her as the “shining star around which our family’s universe has always orbited”. Honouring Lady Joan’s memory, Sir Richard penned: “Life will never be the same without her. But we have 50 incredible years of memories – years filled with tears and laughter, kindness and a love that shaped our family more than words could ever capture.

“It was a relationship that worked. We just had lots of laughs. We were very lucky.”