AN 83-year-old woman, who had trouble swallowing food, choked to death in hospital on tablets and a special diet supplement drink.

Mrs Mary Alice Lord, of New Line, Bacup, a retired greengrocer, had been in Rossendale General Hospital for eight days until her death last Saturday and believed she was dying, an inquest heard.

But pathologist Doctor Abdul Al-Dawoud who carried out the post mortem examination said she was in good health for her age.

Mrs Lord's son, Peter Warwicker, of Prospect Terrace, Stacksteads, said his mother had trouble swallowing food. She was admitted to hospital after a neighbour called the doctor.

He told the inquest: "The night before she died she said to me 'I'm going to the Lord."

Charge nurse Bryan Meylan said she had about two-thirds of a glass of a dietary supplement fruit drink which he fed her.

Later he watched her take some tablets without any obvious problems.

Half an hour later an auxiliary nurse called him to Mrs Lord's bedside because she appeared to have died.

Doctor Al-Dawoud said he found stomach contents in her windpipes. The pathologist added there was no physical reason for her difficulty in swallowing. He said people who suffered from diabetes, as Mrs Lord did, sometimes suffered from a disease of the nerves which could affect swallowing.

Mrs Lord had also suffered a slight stroke at some stage and this may have been a contributory factor.

East Lancashire coroner David Smith recorded a verdict of misadventure.

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