A man with a drug problem was found dead by his partner in their converted bus home at Matlock.
A Chesterfield inquest heard that Christopher Widdowson (30) was a heroin user who found that the drug eased his leg pains.
He was admitted to Chesterfield Royal Hospital on January 2 with severe leg pains and diagnosed with probable deep vein thr
ombosis.
Mr Widdowson was discharged the following day with a prescription for anti-coagulants, and he injected the blood-thinning drug in an area of his groin where he had previously injected heroin.
His partner, Donna Bisbey, told police he began smoking heroin rather than risk aggravating his condition by injecting the drug.
Pc Paul Gamble said that Mr Widdowson appeared to be feeling much better by January 10 and was taking methadone, a substitute for heroin.
Ms Bisbey went out for a while and returned to the bus, which was parked at Harveydale Quarry, Dale Road, at 8.30pm.
"He appeared to have again improved and both were looking forward to cutting their dependency on heroin completely," said Pc Gamble.
But, the following morning, Ms Bisbey found her partner motionless in his bed, with his eyes open.
"She knew straight away he was dead and called for an ambulance," said Pc Gamble, adding that Mr Widdowson was declared dead at the scene.
A post-mortem blood sample revealed that "significant" levels of heroin and methadone had been taken in the days leading up to his death, stated pathologist Dr Sheik Saleh.
He gave the cause of death as multi-organ failure resulting from blood-poisoning from an infected injection site used for intravenous drug abuse.
North Derbyshire Coroner Tom Kelly recorded a verdict of death from self-administered drug poisoning, adding that an autopsy found no evidence of deep-vein thrombosis.
The full article contains 310 words and appears in Matlock Mercury newspaper.
