An inquest has found that the death of Lady Joan Branson, wife of Sir Richard Branson, was likely influenced by the omission of crucial preventative medication at a private hospital. Lady Branson, aged 80, died on 24 November after suffering a cardiac arrest at the Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, a facility owned and operated by HCA Healthcare.
The hearing at Westminster Coroner’s Court revealed that Lady Branson’s death was the result of a pulmonary embolism, a sudden and potentially fatal blockage in a lung artery caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Lady Joan had been admitted to the hospital on 17 November, following a fall she sustained several weeks earlier on Necker Island, the luxury private island in the British Virgin Islands owned by her husband.
Professor Fiona Wilcox, the senior coroner for Inner West London, stated that Lady Joan was not given prophylactic anticoagulants, despite being at very high risk of developing DVT during her hospital stay. In her conclusion, the coroner said: “I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably.”