Elderly patient 'begged for tea'

An inquest has to decide how Olive Nockels, 91, died

An elderly woman who died in a Norfolk hospital after spending four days without food begged to be given a cup of tea, an inquest has been told.

Olive Nockels, 91, also asked her family if she could have a beetroot sandwich as she lay at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Mrs Nockels was admitted to the hospital in September 2003 after suffering a stroke and died in October.

The inquest on Mrs Nockels, which opened in July, resumed on Monday.

The inquest, held in Norwich, heard Mrs Nockels had been receiving fluids containing dextrose after being admitted to the hospital.

But after she developed an oedema, a build-up of excess fluid in the body, and started to secrete fluid rather than absorb it properly, doctors decided to withhold treatment.

Mrs Nockels, from Holt, Norfolk, was a former school matron

Members of Mrs Nockels's family subsequently obtained a High Court injunction ordering the treatment to be reinstated.

But this was overturned the following day after hospital consultant David Maisey expressed concerns over it to the judge.

Mrs Nockels, of Holt, Norfolk, died on 10 October.

The inquest heard that after being admitted to the hospital Mrs Nockels received 140 calories a day for 16 days, before treatment was withheld.

Mrs Nockels was receiving the fluids intravenously until her vein collapsed and she was then given fluids under her skin until developing oedema.

Appeared confused

Giving evidence on Monday, consultant geriatrician Brian Payne, who examined Mrs Nockels, said she seemed confused when he asked her simple questions.

He said that when he broached the possibility of fitting a feeding tube she had not responded apart from telling him to stop or go away.

James Dingemans QC, representing Mrs Nockels's daughter, Ivy West, asked Mr Payne whether he was aware that Mrs Nockels had asked for "beetroot sandwiches, macaroni cheese and a cup of tea" before her death.

"I was not aware of that," he replied. "It does strike me as very different from the opinion of her I got on the day and the reports from nurses. I was not aware she was capable of sustained conversation."

Home Office pathologist Michael Heath told the inquest that withholding food and fluids for four days might cause death.

"All I can say is it is a possibility," he said.

Mr Heath said Mrs Nockels had an above normal body mass index at the time of her death.

He said a post-mortem examination showed no evidence of dehydration, but he said excess fluid was found in body cavities.

The inquest continues.