A dad died after falling in his kitchen and becoming trapped under his fridge, an inquest heard. Ian Campbell died of multiple organ failure days after the fall, due to the stress his body had been put through.
The 74-year-old lived in St Augustine's Court, a complex of retirement flats in the Tonge area of Bolton. His family would care for him on a daily basis, the inquest heard.
The retired bakery team leader had been diagnosed with dementia in 2012, but it was not severe. While being a bit unsteady on his feet, he was relatively mobile, the inquest heard.
His wife, Michelle Campbell told Bolton Coroners' Court that his stability had been getting worse in recent times.
The inquest heard about the moment Mr Campbell fell, on September 18. His son, Thomas Campbell, told the court that he had tried to ring his father multiple times, but couldn't get through to him.
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He went round to his dad's flat and found him in the kitchen with the fridge freezer on top of his back. Thomas took the fridge off him and an ambulance was called. He was taken to hospital around 6pm.
Ian was unable to remember completely how he had ended up in that position and could have been stuck for up to 12 hours, the court heard. Evidence from Christopher Storey, of the North West Ambulance Service, was read by assistant coroner Stephen Teasdale.
It was believed Mr Campbell had lost his balance in the kitchen while cooking and grabbed hold of the fridge to try and stop himself falling. However, he ended up pulling it onto himself. He was trapped for many hours.
Mr Campbell was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital where he later died. Dr Jethin Rafique, a consultant in thoracic medicine, told the court that a CT scan early on in his treatment found Mr Campbell had advanced lung cancer, which until this point had gone undiagnosed, and a partially collapsed lung which had become infected.
It was determined that the traumatic event of the fridge crushing him had put immense pressure on his heart, lungs, and kidneys, which led to multiple organ failure. Mr Campbell had been placed on antibiotics and fluids to try and balance all of his care needs but his condition deteriorated during the six days he was in hospital with the development of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (broken heart syndrome).
The condition of his heart and lungs meant he would have needed a ventilator to be kept alive, however, this severe form of treatment would not have been in his 'best interest', Dr Rafique said, so he was moved onto palliative care. The doctor added that the lung cancer was so advanced that it would have led to his death in a matter of months, despite the lack of any symptoms.
The coroner summed up the evidence of the doctor, who gave a cause of death as 'multiple organ failure'.
He said: "It all starts with the fall, because of the stress that causes which leads to heart issue leading to multiple organ failure". He said the lung cancer was an underlying issue which would have weakened his immune system but was not a direct cause of his death.
The coroner concluded that Mr Campbell's death was accidental. He said: "He grabbed hold of the fridge freezer to prevent himself from falling but pulled it onto himself and it trapped him in the kitchen, it was very unfortunate timing. This resulted in him sustaining stress that in time led to heart complications.
"He couldn't fight off the infection and was fighting a losing battle with compromised lung and heart." This led to the Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy diagnosis, leading to multiple organ failure. Mr Campbell died on September 24 last year.
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