Clive Hyman, 64, had been relatively fit and healthy, regularly attending the gym and playing cricket
A coroner has sounded the alarm over blood thinners following the sudden death of a successful finance executive, with his grieving wife insisting he “could have been saved”. Clive Hyman, 64, was in good health, regularly hitting the gym and playing cricket, when he tragically passed away last year.
The accomplished corporate finance specialist, who made waves as the youngest ever partner at KPMG, experienced a “minor” tumble on some marble steps in Bucharest, Romania, and reportedly felt “fine”. However, nine days post-fall, London-based Clive died in hospital due to a brain haemorrhage.
He had been prescribed the blood thinner apixaban after experiencing heart issues, a medication known to potentially cause brain bleeding following a head injury. Yet, during an inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court last month, Assistant Coroner Sarah Bourke discovered that the drug’s leaflets offered no guidance on actions to take following a head injury.
The report on preventing future deaths stated: “None of the patient information leaflets that I reviewed expressly addressed the steps to be taken by a patient if they sustain trauma to the head. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.”
Clive took his fall on August 1, 2025, whilst on a phone call, but assured his work colleague that he felt “fine”, according to the inquest. His widow, Rachel Hyman, revealed that he developed a severe headache five days later. She called for an ambulance, but was informed it was a non-emergency situation, so he took paracetamol and went to bed.
Later that day, Clive began vomiting, his blood pressure skyrocketed and he became unresponsive. An ambulance was called and it was discovered he had suffered a left-sided subdural haemorrhage.
Tragically, he passed away on August 10, 2025, leaving Rachel heartbroken after just four years of wedded bliss.
The 52-year-old widow voiced her fury following the inquest, convinced that had Clive been aware of the risks, he would have sought medical attention and his life could have been spared. She shared that her husband was meticulous about his health, even marking a circle around the bruise on his leg to monitor if it was expanding.
She expressed: “It just doesn’t make any sense to me. All the surgeons knew about the risk, but the cardiac people didn’t make us aware. Nobody told us.
“Clive should and could have been saved. I have the extra trauma and burden that he should be alive. That is very hard to deal with. It should not have happened.
“He had taken his health really seriously. He went to the gym five times a week and ate a very healthy diet. I can say with 100 per cent certainty that had we known a fall to the head could cause this, we would have gone to the hospital.
“Clive was not the only person to have died from it. The coroner said she has seen this problem in her court before. It is probably happening to people right now who were not made aware of this.”
Cambridge-educated Clive and Rachel first crossed paths in 2016 during a job interview, before tying the knot in an intimate ceremony amidst the pandemic in 2021. Rachel described her husband, who spent two decades at ‘Big 4’ accountancy firm KPMG, as exceptionally intelligent, and she’d envisaged spending her remaining years by his side.
She’s now campaigning for greater awareness surrounding the dangers of apixaban, determined that others should be spared her anguish.
She continued: “Clive was really wonderful. He was very bright. He was a really kind and lovely person. He treated everybody the same and did things because he cared for people.
“He wanted to live, he was finally happy in his life. We were really happy together and it is a real tragedy that he is not here. He was the love of my life.
“It is absolutely horrendous. There are no good days. My life stopped. My plans all changed. I thought we would get a good 20 years together.
“I want to make people aware so that it won’t happen to other people. If you have a fall on blood thinners, even if you feel fine, just go to the hospital. They should be changing the advice.”
