Bury St Edmunds woman, 83, died after medical treatment on cruise

Cruise ship staff who restrained an 83-year-old woman with a bathrobe as she was having a panic attack contributed to her death, an inquest concluded.

Marguerite Hayward died three months after being "medically disembarked" from the Seven Seas Explorer in the Mediterranean following a panic attack.

The inquest heard she was restrained with the robe and sedated before she was stranded at a hospital in Italy.

Suffolk coroner Nigel Parsley recorded a narrative conclusion.

Marguerite and Frederick Hayward on the cruise in 2017

The inquest heard that during Mrs Hayward's panic attack on 25 April 2017, she kicked her husband, "lashed out" at staff and said she wanted to jump off the boat.

The ship's doctor said she had to be sedated because they could not physically restrain her.

He said she had to be leave the boat so she could receive "specialist treatment" at hospital.

Mr Parsley said it was unknown what triggered Mrs Hayward's "acute delirium".

But the "sequence of events which started on the ship, and the treatment which she received overseas, had a cumulative and contributing effect on her death".

Mrs Hayward's sons Anthony, left, and Martin attended the inquest in Ipswich

Suffolk Coroner's Court heard Mrs Hayward and her husband Frederick, who was 87 at the time but has since died, were ordered off the boat the morning after her panic attack.

She was taken to Sorrento Hospital and left in an accident and emergency department where there were no beds for her, the hearing was told.

The ship's ground agent was not there on her arrival, neither was an interpreter, and she was sedated for five days, it was heard.

Mrs Hayward was transferred to West Suffolk Hospital and died in a care home in Bury St Edmunds on 29 July 2017.

Her son Anthony Hayward, speaking outside the coroner's court in Ipswich, called it "a catastrophic series of events that led to her painful and early death".

He added: "It's upsetting but we continue to be motivated to get to the facts and to get to responsibility and accountability."