THE family of a Chester pharmacist have told of their attempts to save their loved one who died after choking on a piece of meat as she slept.
The Chester inquest heard how on the evening before her death on March 12, Deborah Downes, 48, had gone back to bed as normal after sitting down to a meal with her husband Kenneth.
Mr Downes told an inquest: “We had eaten gammon and about half an hour afterwards she said to me, ‘That meat was a bit tough’. They were the last words she spoke to me and she went back to bed.”
At around 7.15am the next day, both Mr Downes and Mrs Downes’ son Dale Ross had attempted to rouse Mrs Downes from bed but found her lifeless. Mr Ross told how while trying to clear his mother’s airways, he removed a chunk of meat which had become lodged in her gullet. Mrs Downes was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Downes told how during the night his wife was snoring which he said was a little unusual. He woke on other occasions through the night and saw that his wife was sleeping.
On the day before her death, Mrs Downes, of Peckforton Way, Plas Newton, had been sent home from work early for acting ‘funny’, it was heard.
Mrs Downes’ son Mr Ross, who carried out CPR on his mother told the inquest: “She got sent home from work early because she was acting funny, I could not tell you what she had taken but I don’t think it was alcohol.”
Mrs Downes, who had a history of depression, was taking painkillers and other medication to assist with anxiety. Her family had expressed concern over the volume of medication that their loved one was taking and had openly expressed their concern to her.
However, a toxicological report stated that although at the time of her death blood sample revealed traces of various types of, medication in her system, the levels were not sufficient to have led to an overdose.
Mr Downes told how a week prior to his wife’s death, the couple had enjoyed a holiday in Lanzarote which he described as ‘wonderful’.
“She seemed to have really enjoyed it, she came back full of beans,” Mr Ross said.
Mrs Downes was described as a ‘jolly individual’, despite her problems with depression.
Significantly, pathologists told how two forms of the medication in Mrs Downes’ system could have led to respiratory depression and effectively stopped her coughing mechanisms.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinberg told the family: “This is very sad.”