A pensioner died of hypothermia in Bury, UK, this winter after she turned off the heating in her home over fears of high energy bills. That’s the conclusion reached by a coroner’s inquest at Rochdale Coroners Court on Monday.
87-year-old Barbara Bolton passed away in January this year after a four-week hospital stay. She suffered from vascular dementia and died of recurrent pneumonia.
But her death is clearly linked to long-term hypothermia, according to chief medical examiner Joanna Kearsley.
Bolton was found by her son in the freezing cold kitchen of their terraced house in early December after she stopped answering the phone. She could not speak and could hardly move and was taken to the hospital. The doctors there measured her body temperature of only 28 degrees.
The family testified that Bolton was clearly fixated on not turning on the heating, no matter what she was told. Friends and family have repeatedly assured her not to worry about rising energy costs. But she is said to have always turned off her heating immediately when she was alone.
Bolton’s treating physician called her death “avoidable.” “But since she was very stubborn and also a proud woman who was self-sufficient, she did not want to accept any help, not even from her family.”