LONDON, UK — The failure of a private London hospital to provide preventative blood-thinning medication to Lady Joan Branson contributed to her death from a pulmonary embolism, a coroner has concluded.
Lady Branson, 80, the wife of British billionaire and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, died on 24 November 2025 after suffering a cardiac arrest at the private Lister Hospital in Chelsea, west London.
At Westminster Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, Senior Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox concluded that Lady Branson’s death would likely have been prevented had she received prophylactic anticoagulation — medication routinely used to reduce the risk of dangerous blood clots.
“I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably,” Wilcox said.
The inquest heard that Lady Branson was admitted to the hospital on 17 November, following a fall several weeks earlier on Necker Island, the private island in the British Virgin Islands owned by Sir Richard Branson.
She subsequently died after developing a pulmonary embolism, a potentially fatal blockage of an artery in the lungs caused in her case by a blood clot associated with deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Haematologist Dr George Adams told the inquest that Lady Branson was at an “extremely high risk” of developing blood clots.
He identified her immobility and fracture as, by far, the most significant risk factors.
Despite that risk, Lady Branson did not receive prophylactic anticoagulation at any point between her admission and her death.
The inquest also heard that the hospital’s admitting doctor, Dr Basir Kunduzi, failed to complete a bleeding-risk assessment on the day she was admitted.
Kunduzi told the court that Lady Branson’s death caused him to reflect on his responsibilities as a physician, including the importance of effective communication between members of a medical team.
Coroner: Not a Case of Neglect
While finding that the failure to provide anticoagulation probably contributed to Lady Branson’s death, Professor Wilcox stopped short of describing the circumstances as neglect.
Giving her conclusion, she said: “It is not a case of neglect” and stressed that there “wasn’t an absence of treatment.”
The finding nevertheless highlights the potentially devastating consequences of failing to identify and manage the risk of blood clots in patients who are immobilised following fractures or serious injuries.
Lady Branson’s death has also brought renewed attention to the circumstances surrounding her hospitalisation, which followed her fall on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.
Following her death, Sir Richard paid tribute to his wife, describing her as the “shining star around which our family’s universe has always orbited.”
The couple were married for decades and Lady Branson was a prominent figure within the Branson family and the Virgin Group community.
Her death at a London hospital, following an accident on the Branson family’s BVI property, has now been formally examined through the British coroner’s process, with the inquest concluding that the failure to administer preventative anticoagulation probably played a role in her death.