A Kent hospital is to be sued after twice sending a stroke sufferer home because she needed psychiatric help.

Margaret Maddox collapsed in the car park at Darent Valley Hospital when her family took her back to the A&E department again in the middle of the night.

She died three days later.

Paperwork was said to have been missing from her files and her medical notes were incomplete.

The hospital has strenuously denied any negligence.

But according to reports today, ex-prison governor husband Phillip Maddox has decided to take the hospital to the High Court after a coroner ruled last month she died from natural causes.

Mr Maddox, of Brandon Road, Dartford, told coroner Roger Hatch his wife had repeatedly had severe head pains and insisted she was ill.

A Darent Valley spokesman said: "After a thorough investigation into the facts and hearing the statements and evidence from all parties, the coroner concluded that the care and treatment Mrs Maddox received at the hospital had been entirely appropriate and that she died of natural causes.

"We are completely satisfied that our doctors treated Mrs Maddox properly and that all of the necessary tests and investigations were performed. We offer our sincere condolences to the family and understand how difficult and distressing it can be to lose a loved one."

Last week, it was revealed another family had been compensated and major changes made to nursing at Daren Valley Hospital.

It followed the death of a 74-year-old man with bed sores, MRSA, gangrene and pneumonia, which Mr Hatch ruled was caused by the hospital's neglect.