An inquest into the death of a Derby mum who suffered a stroke a week after receiving her Covid booster jab is being held by a coroner. Mohinder Kaur Mahal, 85, passed away at the Royal Derby Hospital five days following her admission.
Her family raised concerns after her death that the vaccination might have played a part. Assistant coroner Alison Noble stated the inquest would investigate any potential connection between the Covid-19 jab and Mrs Mahal’s stroke, her medical care, and the cause of her death.
The two-day inquest at Derby Coroner’s Court was informed that Mrs Mahal had previously experienced a stroke in January 2021 but after recovery, she received her first Covid vaccination in March 2021, which was the Astra Zeneca variety. Shortly after, she was hospitalised for stroke-like symptoms.
However according to Dr James Scott, Royal Derby Hospital consultant stroke physician, she did not suffer another stroke. She returned home and over the next 18 months, she was frequently admitted to hospital with a series of episodes that Dr Scott referred to as “decompensation”.
This happens when the brain is working hard to reconnect pathways after a previous stroke. Baldev Mahal, son and carer of Mrs Mahal, shared that his mother was initially uncertain about receiving another vaccination. But, after being hospitalised for abdominal and chest pains and pneumonia, she decided to get vaccinated around 18 months later, reports Derbyshire Live.
She left the hospital on October 14, 2022, and received a vaccination at her Pear Tree home on October 19. The jab, a bivalent Pfizer booster designed to combat the Omicrom variant, was administered by a nurse from Lister House Surgery in St Thomas Road, Derby.
Despite not having received the initial second jab before the booster, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed it was acceptable but advised that the patient should complete the primary course eventually. Mr Mahal noted that his mother was “not herself” within hours of receiving the jab, experiencing a gradual decline in mobility, confusion, and difficulty picking up tablets.
On the morning of October 26, she expressed feeling tired, and he left her to rest. When he returned around 6pm she was unable to speak or move, prompting him to call an emergency ambulance.
Dr Scott explained that Mrs Mahal had suffered a stroke, but as it occurred several hours prior, any attempts to dissolve or dislodge the clot in her brain would not be effective. This is due to the belief that after four and a half hours, irreversible damage occurs in stroke patients.
He also noted that Mrs Mahal had an irregular heartbeat upon hospital admission, which needed stabilisation before any scans could be conducted. Dr Scott highlighted that age, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure and atrial fibrillation – all of which Mrs Mahal had – are significant risk factors for strokes.
He emphasised that strokes “occur instantaneously” and not over days, and that Mrs Mahal’s condition post-booster jab was unrelated to the stroke. She was described as being “non-specifically unwell”, possibly due to a post-vaccination fever.
Dr Scott informed the family that their mother was dying, and she passed away on October 31. He stated: “There is no reason to suppose that there is any connection between the vaccination and the stroke.”
Consultant Royal Derby Hospital pathologist, Cordelia Kirchoff-Stewens, who was called to provide evidence, acknowledged the family’s concerns about a potential link between the vaccination and their mother’s stroke and subsequent death. She said that because the stroke had happened a short while after the vaccination and that the family had said Mrs Mahal had developed “stroke-like” symptoms on the day of the jab, she couldn’t ignore the”temporal relationship” between the two, which raised the possibility of a”causal relationship”.
She said: “Is it a coincidence or not in an age group with risk factors? I can’t prove it and there is no test to prove the vaccination was the cause. We don’t know if we can categorically say she would still be here if she did not have the vaccination.
“Why shouldn’t her symptoms after the vaccination be the build-up to a stroke? I am not sure it’s black and white, it’s a grey area. I cannot prove it or disclude it that the vaccination did not cause or contribute to the stroke.”
The coroner, Ms Noble, plans to review all the evidence thoroughly before announcing her findings on November 1 from 10.30am.