A private hospital’s failure to give Richard Branson’s wife medication designed to prevent dangerous blood clots likely contributed to her death, a coroner has found.
Joan Templeman, who was married to the billionaire Virgin Group founder for nearly 50 years, died at age 80 on Nov. 24, 2025, after suffering cardiac arrest at the Lister Hospital in Chelsea, West London.
An inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court heard that Templeman had been admitted to the hospital on Nov. 17 after suffering a fall weeks earlier on Necker Island, Branson’s private retreat in the British Virgin Islands.
The court found that Templeman died from a pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis.
A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the lungs.
Hematologist Dr. George Adams told the inquest that Templeman was at an “extremely high risk” of developing blood clots because of her lack of mobility and a fracture she had suffered.
“The biggest risk factor by far was her immobility and her fracture,” Adams said.
Despite those risks, the court heard that Templeman was not given prophylactic anticoagulation, medication commonly used to prevent blood clots.
Adams said the medication can reduce both the number and size of blood clots and testified that it likely would have lowered her risk of suffering a fatal pulmonary embolism.
Senior coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox agreed.
“I do find her death would have likely been prevented and the lack of anticoagulation did cause or contribute to her death probably,” Wilcox said, according to the BBC.
The court also heard that a venous thromboembolism, or VTE, risk assessment was not completed when Templeman was first admitted to the hospital.
Dr. Basir Kunduzi, who admitted Templeman, acknowledged that the assessment was not done that day.
Adams told the inquest that patients entering a hospital should receive an immediate VTE assessment to determine their risk of clotting and bleeding.
Templeman’s daughter, Dr. Holly Branson, also told the court that her mother was not given anti-clot stockings during the first 48 hours of her stay.
Those stockings are designed to improve blood flow in the legs and reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis.
Kunduzi admitted during the inquest that Templeman “should have been on anti-coagulants.”
He also said her death had caused him to reflect on his role as her doctor and on the importance of communication between members of a medical team.
Dr. Inaki Bovil, Templeman’s consultant, said the hospital has since done significant work to strengthen its procedures surrounding VTE risk assessments and prevention.
He said the goal was to make sure a similar situation does not happen again.
Despite the failures identified during the hearing, Wilcox said Templeman’s death did not amount to neglect.
“This was not a case of neglect,” she said, adding that there had not been a complete absence of treatment.
A spokesperson for Virgin Group, who also represents the Branson family, declined to comment on the findings.
Templeman and Branson married in 1989 after a long relationship.
They had three children together: Holly, now 44, Sam, 41, and Clare Sarah, who died at just four days old after being born three months premature.
After Templeman’s death, Branson paid tribute to his wife on Instagram, calling her “the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for.”
The inquest has now concluded that failures in preventing blood clots likely played a role in her death.