University should have told us about suicidal son, says mother Undergraduate killed himself in hotel room
AGRIEVING family has urged universities to share more information with students’ relatives after the death of a Birmingham undergraduate.
The plea was made at an inquest into the death of talented athlete Andrew Worden, who killed himself in a hotel room.
His family had no idea he was suffering mental health problems.
The engineering student did not tell them he had to retake his third year after he dropped out of his University of Birmingham degree course.
He had suffered from low moods and anxiety and found academic pressures “crushing,” an inquest heard.
Mr Worden was 22 when he suffocated himself in a hotel room, having told his mother he was meeting a friend to study.
His mother, Karen Worden, told the inquest her youngest son always seemed “happy” when he returned to the family home in Cornwall.
But Mr Worden had contacted his GP over concerns he might be bipolar, and was diagnosed with a milder form of the illness, cyclothemia. He missed appointments with Forward Thinking Birmingham, a mental health service for young people, and was later discharged.
Mrs Worden told the inquest : “We can’t understand why the university did not contact us to tell us he was not well. Every time Andy came home he was happy. He would exercise and seemed to sleep OK.
“Why didn’t they contact us if they knew something was drastically wrong? They have a duty of care towards their students.
“With the number of young people who take their own lives at universities every year, you’d think it is something that should be looked at. It has been hell for our family. Absolute hell.”
Mr Worden’s older brother Steve said: “We are angry with what we see as a lack of information from the university. If they had shared any information, we could have helped him.
“We feel there should be some system changes at universities to let next of kin know if someone is facing mental health issues to prevent other families from going through this kind of thing in the future.”
Mr Worden had been a straight A student at school and had passed his first two years of university.
The inquest heard Mr Worden had started to self-medicate with drugs to keep him awake for longer, to cope with the stresses of academia, but he continued to struggle with assignments.
But, while studying to resit his third year exams, Andrew told his mother he would be spending time with a friend when he booked a room at the Penmere Manor Hotel in Falmouth. Staff found his body on August 12, 2017, along with a number of notes. A conclusion of suicide was recorded by assistant coroner for Cornwall, Guy Davies.