A MAN who was misdiagnosed in hospital died from asbestos exposure, Flax Bourton Coroners Court heard last week.

Ronald Goldsworthy, aged 70, of Coulson Drive, Weston, was working as a boiler fitter in the late 1950s and early 1960s, conditions which would have led to him being exposed to asbestos, the coroner heard.

He was initially diagnosed with a type of mesothelioma in 2008.

But after review by a series of doctors, his diagnosis was changed.

But his condition then deteriorated three years later and he was again diagnosed with the disease before he died on May 21.

Coroner Terrence Moor read a doctor’s report stating that the normal life expectancy with the disease is six months. He said: “It is highly unusual for a man with a dying notice to survive for three years. One possible explanation is that he developed it during the last year of his life.”

Mr Moor said: “I have little doubt that his exposure to asbestos would be sufficient and on that basis the verdict is death by industrial disease.”