Inquest: Ringwood pensioner Linda Cohen choked to death during Easter dinner

A 74-year-old woman choked to death on a piece of meat while enjoying a celebratory Easter dinner with her family.

Linda Cohen’s son Peter said in a statement to Bournemouth Coroners’ Court his family were having a roast dinner with Mrs Cohen and her husband Morris at the couple’s home in Avon Park, Ringwood, on 30th March this year.

He said his mother, whom he described as a “lover of Shirley Bassey” and a tennis fanatic who always watched Wimbledon, had started eating but after a “few mouthfuls” she coughed a couple of times, before bowing her head and falling silent.

Peter said he realised she had choked and although he could not see anything in her throat, he started hitting her on the back to dislodge what she had swallowed, the court heard.

Her daughter-in-law Julia Darlow then helped Mrs Cohen on to the floor where she started CPR before paramedics arrived around 10 minutes later and took over.

In a statement Mrs Darlow said: “We were having a roast dinner, and she took a bit of lamb, which appeared to become lodged in her throat. She was choking and I tried to dislodge it.”

Paramedics said they believed the meat was too “low to try and remove”, and despite their efforts Mrs Cohen could not be saved.

Assistant coroner Richard Middleton read a statement from Mrs Cohen’s GP which stated that Mrs Cohen had been a heavy drinker, but had told him she was “not going to change her drinking or smoking habits”.

A post-mortem showed that at the time of her death Mrs Cohen’s alcohol level was 203mg in 100ml of blood, and she was described as “intoxicated”.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death caused by a hyperbolic brain injury due to choking.