Phil Campbell, who played guitar in Motörhead from 1984 until the band stopped in 2015, died of multi-organ failure. That was the finding at St Pancras Coroner's Court in north London on Friday 2 October, nearly seven months after his death on 13 March at the age of 64.
The hearing was told the failure came after complications from what it called necessary surgeries. Campbell had two liver transplants and bowel surgery at the Royal Free Hospital in London earlier this year. The second transplant went well. Complications followed anyway, and after the bowel surgery he was moved to intensive care, where his condition declined quickly. The court heard he had been sober for seven years, and that a Hepatitis C diagnosis had been treated. Coroner Dr Richard Brittain put it plainly: "My view is that there is nothing here to suggest his death could have been prevented."
Sonic Perspectives reports the finding was delivered in the district where the death occurred, which is how inquests work in England when a death is sudden or follows a complex medical course.
Campbell auditioned on 8 February 1984, after Brian Robertson left. Lemmy had planned to hire one guitarist and hired two, Campbell and Michael Wurzel Burston, after hearing them play together. He stayed until Lemmy died in December 2015 and the band closed. His family said in March that he died after a long and courageous battle in intensive care following a complex major operation, and called him a devoted husband and a proud grandfather known as Bampi.