Newmarket charity fund-raiser Simon Gear died of a blood clot, inquest rules

A Newmarket charity fund-raiser died of a blood clot the day after he had discharged himself from hospital where he had been treated for two weeks after he was involved in a serious crash, an inquest has heard.

Simon Gear, 49, of Studlands Park, was found dead on May 1, 2022. He had been a patient at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, since April 17 when he had been in a crash on the A142 at Soham involving his Suzuki GXR 750 motorbike and a truck towing a small trailer.

As a result of the accident Mr Gear had suffered multiple injuries, including two pelvic fractures.

The inquest into his death, held today at Huntingdon Coroners’ Court, heard that Mr Gear was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in that restricts blood flow to the lungs, after undergoing surgery for his fractures and was put on anti-coagulation medication.

Hospital staff had estimated he would have been considered fit for discharge on around May 15.

Coroner Elizabeth Gray concluded Mr Gear had a desire to go home and discharged himself on April 30 against the advice of the medical team.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be a pulmonary embolism.

Peter Hull, a trauma orthopaedic consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, told the inquest he felt the event that led to Mr Gear’s death would have happened whether he was in hospital or not.

Members of Mr Gear’s family, who were present at the hearing, raised concerns over his mental capacity to discharge himself, and questioned whether an assessment of this was carried out when he had expressed a desire to leave the hospital.

However, Conor Peck, who worked at Addenbrooke’s at the time, said a doctor had declared him mentally fit to discharge himself and said if that was the case the hospital could not stop a patient regardless of how injured or ill they may be.

During the hearing, Mr Gear’s family alleged hospital staff had refused to help him after he collapsed on the day before he discharged himself and described him as being in extreme pain due to a swollen leg.

However, the coroner said this was not linked with his death.

In a statement read at the hearing, Mr Gear’s sister said she would never get over losing him.

She said she was worried about his wellbeing and that she and Mr Gear were very close.

Closing the inquest, Ms Gray said Mr Gear was under the correct treatment and medication regime

“It is my finding, based on the evidence from Mr Hull, that the pulmonary embolism that caused his death would have happened in any event,” she said.

“His family reports he was in serious pain, and I have no doubt that was the case, within the context of a serious road crash. He was described as being in good physical condition before the crash.

“He was under the care of a multi-disciplinary team at Addenbrooke’s, which included physiotherapy, medical and nursing teams.

“Mr Gear expressed interest in discharging himself, and was declared to have the mental capacity to make that decision, but was very sadly found deceased the next day.”