The Grange nursing home; Valerie Keeble Pictures: GOOGLE / FAMILY HANDOUT A CORONER said there had been an ‘absence of professional curiosity’ as he concluded the inquest of a woman who died after swallowing her dentures a week earlier. Valerie Keeble, 90, had complained to care home staff and her GP of having swallowed a tooth after she choked on a sandwich at The Grange nursing home in Stanford in the Vale on September 4, 2020. Her family, who told the coroner they felt Mrs Keeble was ‘grossly let down’, had raised concerns about her missing dentures and queried whether she might have swallowed them.
Oxford Coroners Court; inset: Valerie Keeble Pictures: OXFORD MAIL/KEEBLE FAMILY The heartbroken family of a care home resident who died after swallowing her dentures said they hoped the woman’s death ‘wasn’t in vain’.
Valerie Keeble, 90, died more than a week after swallowing the dental plate at The Grange nursing home, Stanford in the Vale, last September. Following an inquest into Mrs Keeble’s death, held at Oxford’s County Hall this week, her family said they’d hoped to ‘honour her memory’. In a statement, Mrs Keeble’s husband David and her daughters Helen Davison, Jane Kirkham, Ali Keeble-Smith and Sarah Keeble-King said: “Valerie was the best wife, mum and grandma any of us could have wished for, and we are all still so heartbroken that she is no longer here.
Oxfordshire Coroner s Court A care home resident who died from dehydration was found to have swallowed her dentures a week earlier, an inquest heard. Valerie Keeble, 90, died 12 days after choking while having lunch at The Grange care home, Stanford-in-the-Vale. She died on September 16 last year. Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court heard that Mrs Keeble’s family had raised concerns with care home staff about the nonagenarian’s missing dentures. She herself told staff that she may have swallowed a tooth. In a joint statement, parts of which were read by the coroner, Mrs Keeble’s daughters said: “As a family we feel that mum was grossly let down.”