A PASSIONATE artist died from natural causes exacerbated by chronic drug use.

An inquest at Bolton Coroners' Court heard how Gordon Brander, 45, collapsed at his sister's house in Bolton on August 15, 2019.

He was rushed to Bolton Royal Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Assistant coroner for Manchester West, Rachel Syed, heard that Mr Brander had died from a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot on his lungs, that had travelled there from his legs.

Dr Patrick Waugh, a pathologist, recorded a secondary cause of death as “chronic intravenous drug use” as Mr Brander had no other risk factors that would have increased the likelihood of him developing a clot in his leg, known as a deep vein thrombosis.

Dr Waugh was unable to tell Miss Syed when the clot may have formed.

Mr Brander had been addicted to heroin for most of his life, dipping in and out of prison after he used crime to fund his habit, the inquest heard.

Both his sisters, and his community mental health nurse believed that Gordon had been drug free since his release from prison, and was making attempts to improve his mental health and stay away from drugs.

However, just days before his death, a friend of Mr Brander had called an ambulance when he collapsed after taking a heroin overdose.

Paramedics found him barely breathing, and were forced to ventilate him and deliver Naloxone, described as a “heroin antidote”.

Dr Raza, who saw Mr Brander in hospital, told Ms Syed: “He told me he didn’t want me to contact his community psychiatric nurse to inform them of the overdose.

“His oxygen levels were fluctuating between 82 and 94 and I told him I was concerned about this and wanted to keep him in for observation.

“He was insistent that he wanted to leave – I don’t think we could have persuaded him to stay as he had put his jacket on and was pacing up and down the ward as soon as we left him to discuss this.”

Mr Brander was deemed to have the capacity to understand that Dr Raza wanted him to stay on the ward, but was adamant that he wanted to be sent home so he was discharged on the morning of August 14.

The next day, he complained of shortness of breath and having severe pain in his legs before he collapsed.

Dr Raza told the court that chest X-rays taken the day before showed no signs of a pulmonary embolism or fluid on Mr Brander’s lungs, and he was not complaining of any pain in his legs during his time in hospital.

His sister, Helen German, spoke during the inquest to say: “I think medical people should have more power to detain them against their wishes.

“Someone in that state who has taken drugs clearly isn’t thinking, and I think the professionals should be able to override that decision so that more can be done to help.”

Ms Syed recorded a narrative verdict at the hearing on Friday, concluding that Gordon Brander had died as a result of “natural causes exacerbated by chronic intravenous drug use”.

She went on to say: “There are a number of gaps in this particular case – we do not know when the clot formed or when it moved to his lungs.

"What I can say is that it’s documented that he wasn’t complaining of pain in his legs which would have been key in this case, there was no indication of shortness of breath or pain or swelling in the legs.

“I understand the difficulties both for the families and the clinicians but there were no classic symptoms of a blood clot and he made the decision to self discharge from hospital.

“The only criticism I have is that Dr Raza failed to make sure that he signed the correct self discharge forms, although his intention is clearly noted in his records.”