DAD WAITS FOR REPORT INTO PARK GIRL'S ANOREXIA DEATH | ||||
Taken from thisisnottingham.co.uk – at the heart of all things local AUTHOR: ALISTAIR HARRIS | ||||
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The family of a schoolgirl who died from anorexia are still waiting for a report into her treatment more than a year after her death.
Emma Carpenter, 17, a house captain at Nottingham High School for Girls, died in December 2006 after a three-year battle with the eating disorder. She weighed just four stone.
Her family were originally promised an immediate inquiry by Notts Healthcare, the county's mental health trust, which was in charge of her treatment. More than 15 months after her death the report still has not materialised.
Emma's biological father, Noel Hand, said he was frustrated that the trust had not treated the matter more urgently.
Mr Hand said: "The trust have said they cannot furnish me with a report yet because their lawyers are looking over it. Why are they looking over it? I'm not sure if lawyers can provide them with any help in better treatments for teenage anorexia.
"I want to go down to Notts Healthcare and go through the report with them. If they are full and frank and honestly look at their treatment of Emma and come up with some recommendations, I shall be pleased.
"I just hope that is what they do. I have not heard from them unless I have pestered them by e-mail and every time they have apologised for the delay - that does not make up for the delay."
In September Mr Hand said he was shocked to discover four other women had died from anorexia in 2006 while being treated by Notts Healthcare. This was more than in any other year. All were before Emma's death.
She was expected to get top marks for her A-levels, and was offered an interview to study chemistry at Cambridge University. Mr Hand said he believed she may have been robbed of her future because she did not get specialist medical help.
He has questioned the ability of Thorneywood, the trust's general psychiatric unit, to deal with problems like teenage anorexia.
"I am angry four other women died before Emma and still the trust did not realise there might be a problem and send her to get specialist treatment," Mr Hand said.
"I truly believe if she had got that treatment, she would be alive today.
"If the trust is not honest and open about all this, I will not be happy - I will take this matter up with the ombudsman and the secretary of state if I have to. The trust said the review would start in March 2007; it didn't start until November 2007. They have promised me a copy of the report since January - and yet I still do not have one.
"The longer I have to wait the more worried I am that the trust will not learn anything from Emma's death."
In November Notts Healthcare told the Post the inquiry would finish in "two to three weeks".
A spokeswoman said: "Nottinghamshire Healthcare has submitted its report into the death of Emma Carpenter to its solicitors.
"This is a routine development when important documents will potentially be available in the public domain.
"We have kept the family informed about the delay and would hope to be able to supply them with the report in the near future."
COMMENTARY
One may think that this article focuses more about the ignorance of the Nottinghamshire healthcare department about an individual's death due to an eating disorder. However, I believe that this ignorance is precisely something that exacerbates the problem that understanding people are trying to address.
Anorexia is a growing problem among teenagers all around the world. Worse still, it's a case where one apparently makes a conscious decision to starve oneself due to one's perceptions of his or her own body. This psychological problem is very complicated, and the time it takes to be cured depends on the character of the patient – which is why some teenagers do not even make it past their crucial years.
This teen girl – Emma Carpenter, who was living a fairly successful childhood and expecting to top her A levels, as well as applying to study chemistry in Cambridge University, unfortunately passed away due to anorexia. There are many other cases, even in Singapore, that people turn out with this eating disorder for various reasons, either due to peer influence, or the depression caused by personal attacks on their figures, or the need to mimic the look of their favourite size 0 models or celebrities.
I was never anorexic, nor do I want to be anorexic. However I have personally seen people suffer due to this problem, and I do indeed understand the psychological problems they face, as they care too much of their bodily figure, thus doing whatever they can to feel thinner, or satisfied with their appearance.
My sister once was a jolly, lively girl from the start of secondary school. She worked hard in her studies and her CCAs, and topped most of her subjects and was well-praised by her teachers. However, it almost all changed when she started trying her luck on a social life. People did not treat her kindly, and some called her names. The guys she knew told her that she looked fat, even though she was not.
When many people say the same thing, you believe it is true even though it isn't. This is what I feel sparked the start of the corrosion of the psyche of a strong willed teenager. She started feeling fat herself, she started asking her family members about her size, and bought a weighing scale and hid it in her room. From then the events shall be kept personal, but she launched herself into a state of depression, and suffered from bulimia and other health complications such as oesteoperosis.
I shall not elaborate further, but we have no knowing of what she faces in her life, and I am still proud of my sister to be able to face challenges after challenges of emotional problems. However, I never understand why people are so indifferent towards the concept of eating disorders. I feel that they are matters not to be taken lightly.
Anorexia is a problem that has to be addressed early. It's a growing trend we have to stop, before it continues entering the lives of innocent teenagers, leading to serious, sometimes even fatal, results.
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