Warwick Davis’ wife’s cause of death has been revealed after she passed away age 53.
The Harry Potter actor announced his wife Samantha’s tragic passing on March 24, 2024. An inquest into her death was heard today (April 14) and found that she had died due to arrhythmic cardiac arrest.
This followed major spinal surgery the she underwent – but there appeared to differing opinions about the exact determination.
The month before Warwick’s huge loss, his wife had been admitted to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery after suffering semi-paralysis in both legs.
(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
The coroners court was told that Samantha had undergone a thoracic discectomy to remove a prolapsed disc on February 20, 2024.
The surgical procedure involved cutting through her ribs and then deflating and reinflating her lung. However, a month later she suffered another haemothorax – but after more surgery she appeared to improve.
On March 23, her last chest drain was removed and she was set to be discharged the following day.
However, shortly before midnight, the actress sadly went into cardiac arrest and was given resuscitation for 53 minutes before sadly being pronounced dead.
One pathologist, called Dr John Firth, claimed her cause of death as left haemothorax due to complications from her prior surgery.
But University College London Hospitals (UCLH) professionals disagreed with his conclusion. Cardiothoracic surgeon Mr David Lawrence said it was more likely that CPR caused the bleed.
The medical professional claimed he was “puzzled” as to the cause of cardiac arrest and said: “It’s my true and firm belief that we did everything for her…Her death was unforeseeable.”
Mr Adrian Casey, a consultant spinal surgeon, who carried out the thoracic discectomy, also shared his insight at the inquest.
Adrian said: “I still think it’s somewhat unexplained. I don’t think it’s a very clear cut cause of death.”
Harry Potter star Warwick, 55, had instructed high-end medical negligence lawyers to represent the family at the inquest.
(Image: Getty Images)
Senior Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox declared the the cause of death was arrhythmic cardiac arrest after Samantha suffered complications after spinal surgery.
She told the inquest: “On the balance of probabilities, the stress of her surgeries and the complications that arose precipitated the arrhythmia.
“All of her complications were appropriately managed. It’s heartbreaking that the surgery was successful only for complications to arise and cause her death.”
Ahead of the hearing, the family shared: “The last year and trying to come to terms with Samantha’s death has been incredibly difficult. However, we hope that the inquest will at last provide us with answers.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness and well wishes to us all.”
The couple share two children together, Harrison, 20, and Annabelle, 27.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
