An elderly woman suffering from leukaemia died just before Christmas, a few weeks after falling out of her bed, an inquest heard.

Nelly Broom, 94, of Coggeshall Road, Braintree, died in Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, on December 23 last year.

She had been ill with leukaemia for some time and prone to falls, and was taken to hospital at the beginning of December after the latest one.

Doctors found she had fractured her femur and she underwent an operation on December 19 but her condition went "downhill" and she died on December 23.

At the inquest in Chelmsford yesterday, Essex coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said a post-mortem examination revealed Ms Broom's cause of death as bronchial pneumonia and a fractured femur.

She recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Published Thursday, February 24, 2005

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