Pensioner Ruby Morris died two days after suffering head injury in fall

Published: 16 July, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

A PENSIONER died after falling and hitting her head as she made her way home, an inquest has heard.

Ruby Morris, 86, of Samford House on the Barnsbury estate, had been at the Peel Centre for pensioners on February 24. She was taken home by the centre’s drop-off service, but fell after being helped off the bus.

She died two days later at University College Hospital in Euston from a combination of pre-existing broncho­pneumonia and a haemorrhage.

St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday that the centre had previously taken elderly people to their homes but was forced to change the policy to specific drop-off points due to staff numbers cutbacks. 

Recording a verdict of a combination of natural causes and an accidental head injury, coroner Dr Andrew Reid said: “She appears to have tripped, slipped or fallen and sustained a minor head injury which was not initially apparent. This extended so that four days later she had developed a significant haemorrhage.”