Unknown cause of fatal fall for ‘always-on-the-go’ dad
COURIER Mark Ferranti suffered a fatal head injury when he fell downstairs at his partner’s house.
The 60-year-old grandfather was found collapsed at the bottom of the stairs at the Ball Green property when carers came in to see his partner.
He was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital where he underwent treatment, but he failed to recover and died just over three weeks later.
An inquest into Mr Ferranti’s death heard paramedics were called when he was found on September 24.
The fall was not witnessed and, although his injuries were consistent with a fall downstairs, it is not know what caused it to happen.
Investigations in hospital revealed he had serious head injuries and he was sedated for two weeks due to intracranial pressure.
Stuart Harrison, consultant at the Royal Stoke, said: “Mr Ferranti developed a chest infection. He was treated for pneumonia. There was no improvement in his condition.
“An MRI brain scan on October 16 confirmed there was extensive evidence of a traumatic brain injury and injury to the brain stem.
“It was agreed his prognosis was poor. This was discussed with his family and he was moved to palliative care. He died on October 18.
“His head injury would be consistent with falling downstairs. I am not able to say what caused the presumed fall.”
Mr Ferranti, a father-of-two, lived in Ashbourne Road in Leek. Originally from Stoke-on-trent, he had worked in the pottery industry before becoming a courier.
His son, also called Mark, said Mr Ferranti was fit and active and described him as ‘always on the go’. He would often stay with his partner, who had health problems which meant she was visited by carers.
Senior coroner Andrew Barkley concluded that Mr Ferranti died as the result of an accident. Mr Barkley said: “It is always a possibility that there was a medical episode that caused the fall, although there is no clear evidence of that.
“A post-mortem examination may have uncovered something to explain the fall, but there was a significant time between
the fall and his passing. In light of that, the prospect of finding such a cause was extremely slim.
“A full CT body scan taken on his admission to hospital failed to find any obvious cause.”