Tragedy of anorexic mum

Marie Angela Foster (41), who was forced to use a mobile scooter after fracturing her pelvis a year earlier, collapsed in hospital four days after a hip operation.

Afterr seeming to make a good recovery, Ms Foster, of Dunsdale, Maltby, died on June 4 after her heart “drained away,” according to Deputy Rotherham Coroner Fred Curtis.

Heart disease was given as the main cause of death, contributed to by poorly controlled diabetes, anorexia and the fractured femur.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Curtis said: “It seems to me the fractured femur on top of a very badly affected heart resulted in such reserves as the heart had being drained away completely. “

Although the fracture was not a medical cause of her death it was the catalyst which set in motion a series of events interrelating with her diabetes and anorexia.” Ms Foster, the mother of a 13-year-old daughter, “routinely ignored” medical advice and struggled to keep control of her diabetes, her partner of 14 years, James Morley, said in a statement.

After a diabetic coma episode which led to the removal of all her teeth, she developed anorexia. Ms Foster, a 25-a-day cigarette smoker who had been diagnosed with diabetes as a teenager, received medical treatment for the eating disorder but continued to ignore medical advice, the inquest heard.

A year before her death she had an argument with a family member at her home, which caused her to fracture her pelvis, and she was reduced to walking with a stick and a mobile scooter.

Six months later, Ms Foster became doubly incontinent and was awaiting corrective surgery but died before it could be carried out. In May, while away with Mr Morley in Skegness, she overbalanced as she reached for her handbag in a cafe and fell to the floor.

She slept overnight at the caravan where the couple were staying but they left the next day after she was admitted to Rotherham General Hospital’s accident and emergency department.

Mr Morley said that Ms Foster was making a good recovery and he was shocked to receive a phone call from a member of staff telling him that she had complained of feeling tired before collapsing in bed, and that staff had been were unable to revive her.

Pathologist Prof John Lee concluded that Ms Foster had suffered a cardiac arrest from severe heart disease which arose from poorly controlled insulin diabetes, smoking contributed to by her anorexia and the fractured femur.