A DECISION to give an elderly patient at the DGH a drug to stop his blood clotting was unlikely to have caused the brain bleed he died from, a coroner has found.
The inquest into the death of John Donaghey, 81, revealed he had been prescribed heparin, an anticoagulant, to relieve the pain of his ischemic foot, which had a limited blood supply going to it.
It was said the drug could have thinned the blood,
causing the bleed in Mr Donaghey's brain from which he died but Dr Jane Mercer, a pathologist at the hospital, said the bleeding could easily have happened without the drug.
Violet Donaghey, the widow of the retired painter-decorator, said she was perfectly happy with all the treatment he had received.
The inquest heard Mr Donaghey, who lived in Wrestwood Avenue, Eastbourne was treated at Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre in Haywards Heath on September 16 2007, where holes were drilled into his skull to try to relieve the pressure of the blood build-up.
He was taken back to the DGH 10 days later, almost a month before his death, and prescribed the heparin, although his physician, Dr Mahilal Fonseka, said he was given a low dose.
Coroner Joanna Pratt said, "I am satisfied the drug given was wholly appropriate to the circumstances and we can't be certain that it contributed to his death."
She recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.
The full article contains 245 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
