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Pensioner dies after nursing home fall

1/10/2008

A PENSIONER died after undergoing a hip operation "without complication" following a fall at a Macclesfield nursing home.

Anastasia Louvain Durkan, 92, died at Macclesfield Hospital on March 28, following an operation to repair a fractured hip caused by the fall at Belong Nursing Home on Kennedy Avenue.

At an inquest at Chester Magistrates Court into her death, Coroner for Cheshire Dr Nicholas Rheinberg heard how senior care worker at the home, Mark Nightingale, had found Anastasia – also known as Lou – lying on the floor of her bedroom during the early hours of March 27.

In a statement read out at the inquest, Mr Nightingale said: "Lou was checked for any injuries, but we were unable to find any and there was no sign of any pain. Later I went back to help her to the toilet and as soon as we stood Lou she was crying out in pain."

The inquest heard how Anastasia, a long-term sufferer of dementia, was taken to Macclesfield General Hospital the following day. An operation to cement her hip took place on March 28 and went "without complication", according to a statement read to the inquest from surgeon Steven Kershaw.

He said: "The procedure was carried out without complication and she was in good health when she returned to the ward. At 7.15pm when she (a nurse) came to do her observations, the patient had removed her mask and had passed away."

Through a statement read out at the inquest, Anastasia’s GP Dr Kim Monaghan said that her health had deteriorated in January 2008 due to a chest infection, but she had improved prior to the accident.

She said: "She (the carer) informed me that she was acting like a spring chicken and was eating and singing as normal."

Mrs Durkan’s niece Maureen Massey, from Bishop’s Cleeve in Gloucestershire, told the coroner that she received regular updates regarding her aunt’s health during her stay at the home. She said:"I’ve always felt that she was very well looked after there and I’ve always had in my mind that it was simply an accident." Recording a verdict of natural causes, Dr Rheinberg said: "Dr Ali (pathologist) found the immediate cause of death as a lower respiratory tract infection due to chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

"I’m going to register Mrs Durkan’s death as being due to natural causes, to which an accidental fall and fractured hip contributed. Exactly what happened is not known because a fall was not witnessed."

A retired publican, Anastasia was born in County Mayo in Ireland on June 5, 1915, and was married to Martin Joseph Durkin.