A seriously ill woman was prevented from having a scan at an Oxford hospital when the machine broke and was not fixed for up to three days, an inquest heard.

Doctors at John Radcliffe Hospital had placed 63-year-old Violet Webb on the machine when it stopped working on August 10 last year. An inquest held in Oxford yesterday heard that it was not until the morning of August 13 -- the day she died -- that the machine was repaired and she received the scan.

The court heard that despite the lack of a scan, doctors had correctly established her condition and had begun treatment before the results came through. Mrs Webb, of Crescent Road, Cowley, had her gall bladder removed on August 1 and was released two days later. She was readmitted, suffering from abdominal pains on August 8.

Doctors believed that fluid was leaking into her abdomen and that she had also suffered a blood clot in the lung, so a drug to thin the blood was administered.

When the scan report was available, it showed that there were in fact numerous clots and different medication was then given.

Pathologist Dr Bryan Warren said that one of the main complications of such drugs was brain haemorrhage and that was what happened to Mrs Webb, causing her death.

Oxford coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict of misadventure.