Teacher’s cause of death after leg break ‘still unascertained’
THE CAUSE of death for a Sheffield teacher who passed away hours after a classroom accident is ‘unascertained’, an inquest has heard.
Lynsey Haycock broke her leg in a classroom at Forge Valley school, Stannington, when she had been putting up posters two days before the beginning of term.
The inquest heard she was injured when she jumped down from a table on September 1 last year.
Sheffield Coroners’ Court heard how there were ‘difficulties’ fitting a tube to insert medication at the scene and in moving the mother-of-two from the premises and to Northern General hospital for treatment by ambulance.
The 41-year-old woman was due to have surgery on her broken leg the day after her admission but she suffered a cardiac arrest early that morning and died at 6.30am.
Giving evidence earlier this week, pathologist Dr Julian Burton told Sheffield Coroner’s Court yesterday that sudden arrhythmic death syndrome – a genetic heart abnormality – was one of three possible causes.
Others were non-alcohol-related hepatitis or severe obesity.
A jury found that Mrs Hancock’s cause of death was unascertained, and assistant coroner Laurinda Bower delivered a narrative conclusion yesterday.
Ms Bower told the court: “Whilst these matters might possibly have contributed to her death, it cannot be said that they probably did so as the cause of Mrs Hancock’s death is unascertained. The complex fracture sustained in the jump from the table possibly compounded her death, but it cannot be said that it probably did so as the cause of Mrs Haycock’s death is unknown.”