Premature Discharge of Teenage Anorexia Victim Leads to Death

Laura Willmott, a teenage victim of anorexia did not make it and she died in December 2011. The complications of her illness caused her to suffer a cardiac arrest. She passed away a week later due to severe brain damage. She was first diagnosed with anorexia when she was 13 years old. The mother of this young girl is deeply hurt by the manner in which she received treatment at the NHS hospital. In her opinion, it is high time hospitals adopt a different approach in the treatment of young people as they become adults.

Laura Willmott died due to complications caused by the eating disorder. Once the school girl turned 18, medical staff simply stopped keeping the mother informed of her daughter’s progress.

The hospital had discharged Laura just before she turned 18, as she had begun missing appointments and gave the impression that she no longer required help. Following this, she made several trips to the hospital. The medical notes pertaining to Laura were not readily available at the hospital. Even though Laura was not fit for discharge, the hospital had gone ahead with the same.

"I strongly believe there is a gap in the provision of proper treatment here. It was obvious from Laura's history and her therapy, that although she'd made considerable progress in tackling her anorexia … she was by no means free of the condition. It was also obvious from her own acknowledgements and her refusal to be open-handed about measuring her progress that Laura was being deceitful to the professionals as well as to us. I struggled to see how Laura was any different at 17 years and 364 days than at 18 years and one day," Laura’s mother said.



Source-Medindia