A UK inquest opening has confirmed Liam Payne’s medical cause of death as “polytrauma”.
Recall that the One Direction star had died on 16 October after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.
Polytrauma is a medical term for multiple traumatic injuries which have been sustained to a person’s body and organ systems.
The formal hearing, which was held at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on 17th December, had announced that it may take “some time” to officially ascertain how the 31-year-old died.
The inquest into Payne’s death in the UK was adjourned until a pre-inquest review on 6 November, according to a report by the coroner’s court.
His medical cause of death was confirmed by Dr. Roberto Victor Cohen as “polytrauma”.
The hearing was also told that Payne was officially identified “with the assistance of the funeral directors in Buckinghamshire”.
Senior Coroner Crispin Butler said during the hearing:
“Whilst there are ongoing investigations in Argentina into the circumstances of Liam’s death, over which I have no legal jurisdiction, it is anticipated that procuring the relevant information to address particularly how Liam came by his death may take some time through the formal channel of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.”
Five people in Argentina have been charged in connection with the death of the 31-year-old music star.
The hotel’s manager, Gilda Martin, and its receptionist, Esteban Grassi, as well as Payne’s friend Roger Nores were all charged with manslaughter, Argentina’s prosecutor’s office said.
Ezequiel Pereyra – also a worker at the hotel – and Braian Paiz, a waiter, were also charged with supplying drugs to the late singer.
Deviously in November, the prosecutor’s office in Argentina revealed toxicology tests had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in Payne’s body.
A post-mortem examination found that his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage”, due to his fall from the hotel balcony.
The prosecutor’s office also revealed that medical reports suggested that Payne may have fallen in a state of semi or complete unconsciousness.
Thus, leading the prosecutor’s to rule out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act by Payne, and they had concluded the singer did not know what he was doing nor have any understanding of his actions.
The late singer became one of the most easily recognisable names in pop (in the West) after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with the boyband One Direction in the 2010s before the band went on an indefinite hiatus in January 2016.
Payne’s funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in November.
His former bandmates, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners, together with Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy and his former partner Cheryl, with whom he shared a son.
