Inquest: Hospital failures contributed to death

An inquest has concluded that failures by a private hospital to provide preventative medication contributed to the death of Lady Joan Branson, wife of Sir Richard Branson. Lady Joan, 80, died on November 24, 2025, at the Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London, from a pulmonary embolism, a blockage in a lung artery, which resulted from deep-vein thrombosis. Senior coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox stated at Westminster Coroners Court that Lady Joan did not receive prophylactic anticoagulants, medication to prevent blood clots, despite having a very high risk. The coroner determined that her death would likely have been prevented and that the lack of anticoagulation probably caused or contributed to it. Lady Joan had been admitted to the hospital on November 17, 2025, following a GP referral for persistent pain after a fall weeks earlier on Necker Island. Doctors told the inquest that a venous thromboembolism assessment and the prescription of anticoagulants should have been completed soon after her admission. Haematologist Dr.