An inquest has revealed that Samantha Davis, wife of actor Warwick Davis, died from arrhythmic cardiac arrest following complications after spinal surgery.
The hearing at Inner West London Coroner’s Court today heard differing expert opinions about the exact cause of her death.
Senior Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox concluded that despite receiving “excellent care” from medical staff, the stress of multiple surgeries and resulting complications precipitated a fatal cardiac arrhythmia.
Samantha had been admitted to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London after suffering semi-paralysis in her legs and underwent a thoracic discectomy on February 20 – a surgical procedure to remove a prolapsed disc.
The procedure itself was successful, but Samantha subsequently developed a haemothorax – a build-up of blood in the space between the chest wall and the lungs.
Approximately one litre of fluid was drained, and she was transferred to University College London Hospital for observation and a month later suffered another haemothorax, but showed improvement after further surgery.
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Her last chest drain was removed on 23 March, and she was scheduled to be discharged the next day, however, shortly before midnight, she went into cardiac arrest.
Despite receiving resuscitation for 53 minutes, she was pronounced dead in the early hours of March 24, with pathologist Dr John Firth determining her cause of death as left haemothorax due to complications from the surgery.
He told the inquest the amount of blood and clots – over 700ml – were “significant”, however, medical experts from University College London Hospitals disagreed with the pathologist’s assessment.
Cardiothoracic surgeon Mr David Lawrence said a chest x-ray the day before Samantha died had been “satisfactory” and suggested CPR likely caused the bleed.
He told the court: “It’s my true and firm belief that we did everything for her…Her death was unforeseeable,” whilst consultant spinal surgeon Mr Adrian Casey, who performed the thoracic discectomy, stated this amount of blood loss was “unlikely to cause death.”
Dr Katherine Hunt, UCLH’s clinical lead for resuscitation, agreed with her colleagues, stating the bleed was more likely a result of CPR. She noted the defibrillator rhythm strip showed signs of an abnormal heart rhythm.
Samantha, who had achondroplasia – a bone growth disorder that causes dwarfism – had undergone between seven and nine spinal operations in her lifetime.
Alongside her charity work as founder of dwarfism charity Little People UK, Samantha also appeared as an actress, including an uncredited role in Willow and in the final Harry Potter film in 2010.
In a statement issued ahead of the hearing, which was attended by the couple’s daughter Annabelle, the Davis family said they hoped the inquest would bring them “answers”.
The family stated: “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.”
They added: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness and well wishes to us all.”
Warwick had previously described his late wife as his “most trusted confidante and an ardent supporter of everything I did in my career”.
