Grammar school girl tortured by acne kills herself
A GRAMMAR school girl hanged herself after spiralling into depression because of severe acne, an inquest has heard.
Melissa Martin-hughes, 18, who was predicted three A*s in her A-levels, had been taking the controversial drug Roaccutane for her condition.
It has been blamed for numerous cases of depression and suicide.
Miss Martin-hughes began self-harming after suffering ‘ dark episodes’ from the age of 14 when she developed ‘severe acne’ on her face and upper body, the court was told yesterday.
She was prescribed Roaccutane and put on the oral contraceptive pill to try to reduce the condition.
The acne i mproved, and she seemed settled until she began suffering stress in the run-up to her AS - level exams. She then attempted suicide at Beachy Head, East Sussex, in August 2009 – the day before results were due.
After that, the teenager was sectioned and put under the care of mental health services, but was ‘let down’ by failures from those supposed to look after her, the inquest was told. She was seen only twice by a ‘ crisis team’ assigned to her case before being discharged.
Her body was found in Pittville Park in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on April 26, 2010 – seven months after her last appointment. Devastated father Donald Hughes, a structural engineer, told Gloucestershire Coroners Court: ‘ The sessions unfortunately stopped because of a psychiatrist going on long-term sick leave and also Melissa changing system because of becoming 18. As a fam- ily we do feel let down.’ Dr Guy Undrill, the consultant psychiatrist at the Together Trust who saw her twice before going on sick leave, told the inquest none of his colleagues took on the case.
Desperate messages from her mother calling for appointments were received by his team, but no action was taken, he added.
‘There was a clear failure there, it i s not something that can be defended,’ he told the court.
Miss Martin-hughes, who was due to spend a gap year working at a Christian school in Chile prior to studying at York University, visited her GP a month before she died.
She had complained of tiredness but the doctor apparently failed to advise her that medication could be causing low moods.
Psychiatrist Dr Judith Barnsley said Miss Martin-hughes could have been saved had she been given better care.
‘If she felt someone had understood and if the management plan had incorporated how to help her with her thoughts and feelings ... then that may have altered the outcome,’ she added. The inquest continues.