A PENSIONER died in hospital two weeks after having a hip replacement, an inquest heard.

Olive Heathcote, aged 82, of Charles Street, Farnworth, fell at her home on January 1, breaking her right leg.

She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital and had an operation on her hip on January 5.

Mrs Heathcote, who had suffered previous health problems, had a heart attack on the operating table, the inquest at Bolton Coroners Court was told.

Doctors managed to get her heart going again and the operation was completed, but after showing some positive signs of recovery, Mrs Heathcote’s condition deteriorated.

The inquest heard that she was treated for pneumonia in the trauma stabilisation unit and had to be fed through a tube.

Her son, Joseph, told the inquest that his mother had suffered previous heart attacks in 1997 and 2007.

Recording a narrative verdict, assistant deputy coroner Alison Birch said: “Olive Heathcote died at Royal Bolton Hospital and that cause of death was heart failure caused by a fracture to the hip.

“She suffered cardiac arrest on the operating table, which further weakened an already weak heart. The continued failure of her heart led to her death.”