A POPULAR woman from Bracknell died after suffering multiple injuries when she fell down the stairs at her home.

Pamela Kathleen Stubbs, 82, who attended Age Concern Bracknell Forest and played regularly with Bracknell Bowls Club, died on February 16 after suffering the unwitnessed fall three days previously.

At an inquest into her death, held at Reading Town Hall on Monday this week, Mrs Stubbs’ family told the coroner, Ian Wade QC, they believed their mother was still conscious when she fell as a number of picture frames lining the staircase had been disturbed, with some found shattered on the floor beside her.

Mrs Stubbs, whose husband Reginald died in 1992, had a medical emergency alarm on her person at all times which she did manage to activate following her fall at around 6.30am on Tuesday, February 13.

A neighbour heard a loud bang and when they went to investigate, heard Mrs Stubbs talking to the emergency contact through her alarm.

Paramedics rushed to her home in Budham Way where they found Mrs Stubbs lying at the foot of their stairs. While still conscious, she was struggling to breathe and was immediately transferred to Frimley Park Hospital.

On arrival, Mrs Stubbs underwent a CT scan which revealed a number of fractured ribs, a fractured shoulder blade, and a punctured lung. Air was escaping into her pleural cavity, so a drain was put in place to reduce the pressure.

Once she was stabilised, the grandmother-of-two was transferred to the intensive care unit where a consultant, Dr Stephen Lewis, explained to her and her family that long-term ventilation would not be in her best interests, and the decision was made by Mrs Stubbs that, should her condition worsen, then treatment should stop and palliative care commenced.

The inquest heard that Mrs Stubbs’ condition did deteriorate in the following days, and she died on the evening of Friday, February 16. A post-mortem revealed significant bruising to Mrs Stubbs’ torso, head and legs, suggesting she had banged her head in the fall.

Fluid in her lungs suggested the beginnings of bi-lateral bronchial pneumonia, likely to have been caused by the puncture in her lung.

Paying tribute to their mother, Mrs Stubbs’ sons Stephen and Malcolm, and daughter Christine Skinner, said she was family loving and well-liked in the community, having played with the bowls club for around 15 years.

Age Concern Bracknell Forest held a charity fun day in her honour on Wednesday, June 6.

Recording the death as the result of an accident, the coroner said: “She suffered a fall which caused catastrophic injuries, and I think she realised the seriousness of her situation.”