GP died after falling down stairs in her ‘remarkably high shoes’ after night on champagne
a ReTIReD doctor died when she fell down the stairs in her high heels after a night of drinking champagne, an inquest has heard.
Dr susan allanby, 66, had been wearing ‘remarkably high shoes’ for the night out in spain with her gP husband Dr Charles allanby and another couple.
she suffered fatal injuries tumbling down six stairs soon after she returned to her spanish holiday home, the inquest was told. Her husband had driven them back from the social gathering at around 1am.
He told the hearing: ‘My wife actually took flat shoes with her to walk home from the pub. Because she didn’t appear unable to walk home properly, she didn’t change her shoes.
‘They were remarkably high shoes. I hadn’t seen her wear those before.
‘Had she been wearing flat shoes perhaps there would have been a different outcome.’
The mother of four spent 35 years as a gP at the Clifton surgery in Roath, Cardiff, before retiring in 2012. Her husband was also a gP at the same practice. The inquest heard the couple were renovating their holiday home near algora in central spain in the hope of living there permanently in the future.
on the night of her death in January last year, grandmother Dr allanby was described as having been ‘very animated and dancing’. she and her husband had been for a meal with the other couple at a restaurant before moving on to a pub where they were regulars.
Toxicology reports found 317mg per 100ml of alcohol in her blood. The legal limit for driving in england is 80mg.
Her husband, 63, told the inquest in Pontypridd, south wales, he found his wife lying in a pool of blood after hearing a loud ‘thump’.
senior coroner andrew Barkley said: ‘The circumstances
‘Lying in a pool of blood’
are that in hearing a noise, hearing a thump, Dr allanby discovers that his wife appears to have fallen on the stairs.’
a post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death was a traumatic head and neck injury. The coroner recorded a conclusion of death by accident contributed to by alcohol.
at the time of her retirement, Dr allanby said: ‘I’ll now spend more time with my family. Perhaps indulge in a photography course. I’m going to try and learn spanish – we bought a place in spain so it’s probably a good idea to learn it.
‘I’ll miss the surgery, but this is a new part of my life.’ Tributes were paid to the well-loved doctor at a British Medical association conference where she was described as ‘a hugely respected and vibrant gP who gave so much to patients and the profession’. Tracy Thomas, a patient of Dr allanby’s, said she cried when she heard about her death. ‘she was an amazing person and doctor, always took the time to listen, and her care as our family doctor goes back decades,’ she said. another patient, lynne Beaumont, added: ‘she was my doctor for many years, always very caring and took the time to listen to you. such a tragic loss, my thoughts are with her husband and family.’