Young dad drank himself to death after baby tragedy
FAMILY TELL INQUEST HE NEVER GOT OVER LOSS OF INFANT DAUGHTER
A YOUNG father drank himself to death after failing to come to terms with the loss of his 17-month-old daughter, an inquest heard.
Jack Schumann, 26, suffered with depression ever since the ‘tragic and unexpected’ loss of his baby girl in October 2015.
The mechanic, who lived in Oldham, had been using drink as a coping mechanism but quickly developed a dependency, the coroner was told.
An inquest into Jack’s death heard that he would drink up to 20 cans of cider a day.
His mother Tracy Schumann believes her son may have been able to tackle the addiction had more services been available to him.
She told the coroner that Jack had been offered a bed at the Drug and Alcohol Inpatient Unit at Prestwich Hospital last year, but she said he missed out after he was forced to attend a meeting about Universal Credit.
She added that her son was offered another bed later – which Jack accepted – but claimed he was later told the bed was no longer available. Ms Schumann claimed they never received an explanation and that no further attempts were made to offer Jack a bed.
Following the inquest, a spokesman for the trust in charge of Prestwich Hospital said they had not had any contact at all with Jack.
The coroner was told by Jack’s family he made attempts to beat the addiction by himself, but by May his health had deteriorated.
Jack was found unresponsive by his twin brother on May 16, and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. His father, Martin Schumann, told the Heywood hearing on Tuesday: “Jack lost his daughter about three years ago and suffered from depression ever since. I think he always blamed himself. He always liked a drink at home, but after her death he would tend to drink a lot. He was drinking about 20 cans a day.
“Jack got a job working with me and started to lay off a bit, but in the last 18 months he started to relapse again. It always got worse around the time of his daughter’s birthday or anniversary of her death. He adored his daughter and I don’t think he ever got over her death.
“In the last few months he lost a lot of weight – probably about five stone. I last saw him on May 13 and he didn’t look like himself.”
A postmortem examination conducted by Dr Abdul Gangifrockwala revealed that Jack had died from an alcoholic fatty liver, due to excessive long-term alcohol consumption.
He said that although Jack’s liver was extensively diseased, the damage was reversible. A toxicology report did not detect any alcohol in Jack’s system at the time of his death.
In a statement read to the court, Jack’s GP, Dr Paul Richbell, said the surgery were aware of his alcohol dependency. He said: “Jack came to visit me in June 2017 with an alcohol dependency problem and I spoke to him about the alcohol services and he referred himself for support. He was seen by other doctors at the surgery, who offered him advice and put him in touch with the local services.”
Assistant Coroner for Manchester North, Julie Robertson, recorded a conclusion of natural causes.
She said: “It is clear that Jack used alcohol as a coping strategy. The disease to his liver was extensive and had accumulated over a number of years. I cannot speculate as to whether more available help could have prevented Jack’s death.”