Shropshire father, 48, died a year after farm accident
A Shropshire father whose skull was crushed in a freak farming accident died a year later from an epileptic seizure, an inquest heard.
Paul Milner, 48, from Shawbury, was left seriously injured after a 14ft hook, weighing five-and-a-half stone, shattered the right side of his skull in April 2016.
The father-of-two spent a year in hospital recovering but suffered from seizures as a result of his injuries.
He died in December last year at his home in Wem Road.
Mr Milner was helping to tow a broken down tractor when a link on the chain to his vehicle snapped and sent the hook ricocheting through a window, striking him on the head.
He was airlifted to the Royal Stoke University Hospital for an emergency craniotomy to remove part of his skull, and was placed in an induced coma.
A statement read out at the inquest from Mr Milner’s father, Clement, said his son had been suffering seizures for the last four to six months of his life.
He added: “I phoned Paul on Boxing Day and offered to collect him but he said he would just go to the pub with his mates.
“I phoned again on December 27 and got no reply.
“He had given me a spare key to the house so I went into the lounge and shouted for him but there was no reply. I checked the garage and kept shouting for him.
“When I came back in I realised the landing light was on. I went upstairs and looked towards the bedroom and could see him lying on the floor.”
Earlier in the year Mr Milner found his son lying on the kitchen floor after suffering two seizures.
He said that prior to the accident, Paul was a fit and healthy man who loved working on farms.
Paul, who has two children with Natacha Milner, was due to have a metal plate inserted into his head this year.
He spoke after returning home from hospital about the challenges he faced. At that time he could only speak in a whisper and eat puréed foods due to paralysed vocal cords.
He had also lost the use of his left arm, meaning he had to use a stick to walk.
Friends and family raised thousands of pounds to help his family and pay towards a specialised wheelchair and Mr Milner spoke of how touched he was by the support he had received.
Kindness
Mr Milner said at the time: “I just want to regain as much independence as possible and be able to provide for my family again.
“I am overwhelmed with the support shown to us.
“The kindness by them, by family and friends, and strangers is too much to put in to words.”
A pathologist gave the medical cause of death as status epilepticus, a dangerous condition in which epileptic fits follow one another without recovery of consciousness between them.
The inquest heard the condition was caused by a previous head injury.
The deputy coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, Heath Westerman, said: “I accept the medical cause of death and record that Paul died from injuries caused when a tow chain snapped and hit him on the head.
“I record a conclusion of accidental death.”
