THE family of an elderly woman who died suddenly believe she may have survived if she had been in her own home, an inquest heard.

Doreen Raymant, of Rainham, died at Upminster Nursing Home, where she was recovering from a broken leg after being treated for a month for the injury at Queen’s Hospital, Romford.

The 83-year-old, who was married to husband Edgar for more than 65 years, had been in bed for an hour on August 15 last year when nurses discovered she was not breathing, Walthamstow Coroners’ Court heard.

Her daughter Christine Albert told coroner Elizabeth Stearns her mother disliked being away from her home.

Mrs Albert, of Maple Way, Burnham-on-Crouch, said: “When she was in the hospital my mum didn’t cope too well. It was stressful for her.

“I miss her terribly and I think the way she died was very sad.

“My father rings me every day to say it shouldn’t have happened this way. He insists if he could have got her home she would have been alright.”

Former caterer Mrs Raymant’s leg was put in a cast by doctors, who administered injections to keep her from developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) before she was moved to Clay Tye Road nursing home.

At the inquest on Tuesday (March 8), Dr Peter Tanner told how he had discovered a pulmonary embolism, caused by DVT in her pelvis, fully blocking one of the blood vessels in Mrs Raymant’s lungs during the post mortem.

Although people were most at risk of developing pulmonary embolisms and DVT in the first few weeks after an injury like Mrs Raymant’s, Dr Tanner said it was not unusual for such conditions to develop later, particularly because of Mrs Raymant’s age.

Dr Stearns ruled the cause of death as a pulmonary embolism caused by DVT and recorded a verdict of accidental death.