AN ELDERLY woman died after choosing not to have an arm amputated which became infected after she sustained a compound fracture, an inquest heard.

Beatrice Bland, 93, who had brittle bones, fell last October at Linden House Nursing Home, Blackburn, breaking her left arm just above the elbow.

When she was admitted to Blackburn Royal Infirmary doctors found they could not fix the bone because it was shattered into fragments.

The inquest heard Mrs Bland, who suffered from dementia, was in a confused state in the early hours of her stay in hospital and had injured her arm a second time flailing it around, causing a compound fracture with an open wound.

Over the next six weeks, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at BRI Dr Robin Payton assessed Mrs Bland deciding the bone was impossible to fix and the only course of action was to keep cleaning the wound to stop infection.

After seeking advice from colleagues and a psychiatrist, he decided amputation would be the best option because the wound was not healing and approached Mrs Bland.

He said: "When she was told about amputation she said 'that's a terrible thing to do to an old lady'. Despite her mental condition, I felt I had a duty to listen to her wishes ."

Mrs Bland died on December 5 and a pathologist gave the cause of death as pneumonia along with a severe narrowing of the arteries restricting the flow of blood around the body. Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a verdict of accidental death caused by the fall Mrs Bland suffered at Linden House.