The actor and campaigner Samantha Davis, the wife of Harry Potter star Warwick Davis, died after suffering a cardiac arrest hours before a hospital was planning to discharge her, an inquest has found.
Davis, who co-founded Little People UK – the dwarfism charity known as “an essential resource for little people and their families” – died aged 53 at London’s University College hospital on 24 March last year.
Prof Fiona Wilcox, of Inner West London coroner’s court, concluded during Davis’s inquest on Monday that she had died of arrhythmic cardiac arrest after complications of essential surgical treatment.
Davis was admitted to hospital on 7 February last year following a sudden loss of mobility in her lower limbs after a disc prolapse. On 20 February, and then again on 14 March, she had a thoracotomy operation – a surgical procedure where the chest wall is opened.
Upon the second surgery, her condition improved and the University College hospital at Westmoreland Street was planning to discharge her, the inquest heard. However, Davis went into cardiac arrest at 11.25pm on 23 March and was pronounced dead in the early hours of the morning on 24 March, after a failed resuscitation attempt.
Wilcox said: “I am satisfied that the medical cause of death should be arrhythmic cardiac arrest and complications following left thoracotomies.
“In my view, the stress of everything together has precipitated this arrhythmic cardiac arrest in a lady who was not known to have any previous arrhythmia problems.”
According to Wilcox, Davis had achondroplasia, a bone growth disorder that results in dwarfism, which was “complicated by very severe spinal problems” requiring multiple surgeries from 2016.
The coroner said: “In my view, if this compression hadn’t occurred, Ms Davis simply wouldn’t have been so unwell. She wouldn’t have needed two lots of major surgeries.”
She commended the “excellent care” provided by the hospital, noting that it was “frankly heartbreaking” that the surgery itself was successful only for complications to arise and to cause her death.
Upon her death last year, Samantha Davis was described by her husband as “the greatest love of his life”. Speaking about his wife, he said: “She was a unique character, always seeing the sunny side of life. She had a wicked sense of humour and always laughed at my bad jokes.
“Without Sammy, there would have been no Tenable quizshow, no Willow series. No Idiot Abroad series 3.”
Warwick Davis said Samantha was his “most trusted confidante and an ardent supporter of everything I did in my career” and that having her by his side felt “like having a superpower”.
He dedicated his Bafta film fellowship award to his wife during an emotional tribute at the ceremony in February.
Additional reporting: PA Media