Blood clot killed student, coroner says

The senior had a clot in the pulmonary artery before she fell down a stairwell.
OXFORD, Ohio (AP) -- A blood clot that cut off circulation to both lungs killed a Miami University student who died at a hospital after she fell down stairs in a campus building, the Butler County coroner ruled Friday.
Dr. Richard Burkhardt said an autopsy concluded that Melissa Harman, 22, suffered the blood clot in the pulmonary artery before she fell down the stairwell Thursday morning in Laws Hall, home to the university's Richard T. Farmer School of Business. She suffered a bigger blood clot, which killed her later Thursday at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Burkhardt said.
Harman, a senior from Franklin who was majoring in accounting studies, had fallen backward down about 10 steps, university officials said. She was conscious and talking when she was taken to the hospital, they said.
Tests showed no sign of drug or alcohol use, Burkhardt said.
Pulmonary clots are more typically found in people who have been bedridden than an active person such as Harman, the coroner said.
Burkhardt said the victim's weight may have been a factor in the clots' forming. She was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 230 pounds, he said.
Harman's mother, Kim Parker, said she thought her daughter may have blacked out before tumbling down the steps. Parker said her daughter had suffered pneumonia but said she was feeling better Thursday morning. She said that after Harman fell down the stairs, she was awake, but didn't remember what happened.
After arriving at the hospital, Harman had a seizure and suffered irregular heart contractions before her heart stopped, her mother said. Doctors were unable to revive her.