Mother blames scandal-hit hospital for daughter’s death after eating disorder struggles

A young woman “traumatised” by a stay in a scandal-hit hospital as a teenager died after trying to take her own life years later, an inquest has heard.

Melissa Parrish was admitted to Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead in 2009 for an eating disorder when she was 15 years old, but the experience left her terrified of being admitted to hospital.

In 2018, aged 24, she was admitted to Vincent Square Eating Disorder Service (VSEDS), run by the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, after struggling with her mental health. Four hours later she tried to take her own life; the failed attempt left her in a vegetative state for three years until she died of pneumonia in July 2021.

The inquest held this week was not directed to examine her stay at the Huntercombe Hospital and did not link her death with the 2009 admission.

However, Melissa’s mother Melanie told The Independent, after the jury returned its verdict on Thursday, that she thought her daughter’s 18-month experience at the Huntercombe Hospital had “destroyed” her.

“She got trapped,” Ms Parrish explained. “We saw how Melissa disappeared. She stopped having a relationship with us. She started self-harming, and when she was told it would be longer than 12 weeks, she just died. She stopped eating... she was just traumatised.”

Although the remit of the inquest was not to examine Melissa’s care before 2021, doctors who assessed her before her death gave evidence in which they noted that she was terrified of being admitted to hospital.

One doctor’s notes recorded that they believed “the terror of being admitted, which arose from a past admission, increased the risk [of harm]”.

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Source: The Independent, 23 September 2024