A MAN suffered a broken neck while being treated by a chiropractor for an aching leg, an inquest was told.

John Lawler's widow Joan told how her husband was on the treatment table at Chiropractic 1st in The Mount, York, in August 2017 when things started to go wrong.

She said he started shouting at chiropractor Dr Arleen Scholten: “You are hurting me. You are hurting me.”

Then he began moaning and then said: "I can’t feel my arms.”

Mrs Lawler said Dr Scholten tried to turn him over and then manoeuvred him into a chair next to the treatment table but he had become unresponsive.

“He was like a rag doll," she said. “His lips looked a little bit blue but I knew he was breathing.

"I said 'Has he had a stroke?' She put his head back and said ‘no, his features are symmetrical'.

“She started shouting to get an ambulance.”

She said paramedics arrived, treated Mr Lawler and took him downstairs and to hospital, and he was later transferred to Leeds General Infirmary.

He had an MRI scan and a doctor told her he had suffered a broken neck.

She was then told bluntly that her husband was a paraplegic and he could undergo a 14-hour operation which would be traumatic but he "faded away" and died.

It was reported last year that no one was to face criminal charges over the death in 2017 of Mr Lawler, following a police investigation. A woman who had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following his death was released without charge and the matter was passed to the Coroner.

In 2017, Mrs Lawler, Mr Lawler’s wife of more than 50 years, said the retired bank manager was “a much-loved husband, father and an incredible grandfather”, who was “a keen golfer, walker, and all-round sports fan”.

She said that “family and friends were devastated by his sudden death”.

The couple had three children, and five grandchildren.

The inquest, which is being held at York Racecourse, continues and is expected to last all week.