Sterling Howard Vann, 71, of Arbour Way, died at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, after a medication had the “unintended consequence” of causing bleeding in his bowel.
An inquest was opened into his death at East London Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, February 4.
Senior coroner Graeme Irvine said the death had been referred to him by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which runs Queen’s.
The trust believed Mr Vann’s death had been “contributed to by medications that he was prescribed,” the court heard.
Mr Irvine said Mr Vann, who was in the advanced stages of dementia, had developed a pulmonary embolism – also known as a blood clot.
Doctors prescribed him a drug called clexane – an anticoagulant, or blood-thinner – “to try to get rid of the blood clot”.
But, he said, it seemingly had the “unintended consequence” of causing a fatal “spontaneous gastrointestinal bleed”, listed as the primary cause of Mr Vann’s death on January 16.
As the death appeared to have been contributed to by medical treatment, said Mr Irvine, he would have to open an inquest.
Inquests are held in the public interest to investigate unexplained or unnatural deaths and whether future similar deaths might be avoidable.
The coroner declared Mr Vann’s family “interested persons” – a legal status entitling them to scrutinise evidence before the final inquest and question any witnesses called to testify.
He ordered disclosure of evidence from multiple bodies, including Mr Vann’s GP, and asked the family to provide a statement setting out any concerns they had about his death.
He also ordered disclosure of hospital records setting out Mr Vann’s condition on arrival, what treatment he received and “the circumstances under which clexane was prescribed”.
The final inquest was listed for April 9.