A 61-YEAR-OLD woman who weighed just four-and-a-half stone and suffered from a debilitating lung disease died suddenly at her nursing home, an inquest heard.

Elaine Ann Wiggins, a full-time resident at the Amersham White House Nursing Home, in Chesham Road, Amersham, died of natural causes.

Richard Hulett, coroner for Buckinghamshire, thought she could have suffered a heart attack which caused immediate death and therefore would not have shown up in the post-mortem.

He also suggested an irregular heartbeat may have led to her death.

He said: "A heart arrhythmia leaves no evidence at all or it could have simply been a first heart attack which will not leave any evidence. Usually, if they survive for a little while you can see damage and find a cause.

"She did have particularly acute emphysema but there is no clear cause of death here."

Jeannette Gordon, a registered nurse, was on duty the night Mrs Wiggins died.

She told Amersham Coroner's Court last Wednesday: "I found her lying off the bed, her face was cyanosed there was no sign of life."

Cyanosis is a bluish tinge to the skin, usually caused by respiratory failure.

Mrs Wiggins had been agitated in the early hours of July 27, this year, and called for another dose of her medication, Diazepam.

She was given 2.5mlg around 5.15am but died shortly after the drugs were administered.

Mrs Gordon said: "She always sat up in bed with pillows behind her but I found her with half of her body hanging off the bed.

"She had been really happy that night because her sister had been visiting."