The father of a Locks Heath woman who killed herself after suffering years of chronic stomach pains has spoken of his frustration at medical authorities that shifted his daughter from one surgery and hospital to another.
David Bowman said his 25-year-old daughter Samantha had been determined to overcome the physical and mental anxieties that she suffered for years, but hospitals and doctors seemed unable to help.
Speaking at an inquest in Portsmouth into his daughter’s death Mr Bowman said she had been transferred from one hospital to another and one surgery to another, sometimes for mental health treatment for her anxiety and sometimes for physical medical attention.
“It seems they [the medical profession] couldn’t pigeon hole her so she was being bounced around all over the place. It was very frustrating,” he told the inquest.
He said Miss Bowman had tried to resolve the chronic spasms in her stomach caused by years of suffering gastroenteritis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
But she had become depressed because of suffering so much pain for so long and so decided to end her life.
Her mother Lesley Bowman added: “It felt like the rug was being pulled out from under her. It was the system letting her down.”
Miss Bowman was found face down on the floor next to her bed by her mother at the family home in Monarch Close, Locks Heath. She had left a note for her family on her bed.
A pathologist’s report found she had taken a combination of antidepressant drugs and an antihistamine and that, combined with the symptoms of anorexia, contributed to her death. The post mortem examination did not reveal any gastric abnormalities.
Mr Bowman commended the emergency services staff for the way they handled his daughter’s death on May 24 last year and added: “She was a clever girl. She was extremely active in trying to come up with a cure of her own.
“She was the only person that would read all the small print and look online about the tablets.”
Miss Bowman had suffered with IBS since 2005 and contracted gastroenteritis when she became anxious during her university exams. She had treatment for the conditions but her symptoms flared and worsened while travelling in New Zealand.
She found it very difficult to eat anything because she was in such pain and so could not put on weight.
While recording a verdict that Miss Bowman took her own life while suffering depression, coroner David Horsley said to her family: “The depression itself was due to the physical manifestation over the years.
“I’m so awfully sorry. This is a very sad case. It’s so awful that a young girl has ended up like this.”