Anorexic Medical Student, 20, Hanged Herself Because She Thought She Couldnt Become A Doctor

A YOUNG woman battling anorexia tragically hanged herself because she believed her illness would stop her achieving her dream of becoming a doctor.

An inquest heard that before her death, 20-year-old Lucy Murrell had told her mum: “If I can’t become a doctor I will kill myself.”

Then while out for a walk with her mum near their Cotswolds home Lucy stormed off out of sight and was later found hanging from a tree, the Gloucester inquest was told.

Lucy, of Rodborough, Stroud, Gloucestershire, who had been anorexic since the aged of 11, had started a medical degree course at university two years ago.

But she then had to defer it because of her condition, coupled with anxiety and depression.

She had hoped to go back this Autumn – but earlier this year was told at the eating disorder clinic she attended that specialists had “very real concerns” about her going back unless she improved significantly by June.

Her mum Monika said in a statement to the inquest: “This was her last chance of studying medicine, in her mind, and she felt great pressure because of it.

“I remember her saying ‘If I can’t become a doctor I will kill myself.’

“This was her lifelong dream. ”

The mum told how on April 15 this year Lucy attended her usual Friday therapy session at the eating disorder clinic despite getting on the wrong bus initially and when she came home she was “not in a good space”.

At that time Lucy was trying to decide whether to give up voluntary work she was doing and take a part time job at Stroud Hospital which she had been offered, her mum stated.

Mrs Murrell said she suggested they go for a walk together because walking helped Lucy when she was stressed.

“We had walked about 15 minutes when she was getting very angry with me, which was unlike her,”her mum said.

“She kept saying I was giving up on her. She told me she didn’t want to be near me, she was not engaging with me and she wanted to go home.

“We set off back towards the house and she stormed off in front of me.”

Mrs Murrell said she lost sight of her daughter and expected to see her already at the house when she got back – but she was not there.

She went looking for Lucy but could not find her so she ‘”started to panic” and rang her husband, Alex, and the police.

The inquest heard emergency services arrived and found Lucy was in cardiac arrest. She was taken to hospital but pronounced dead at 9.30pm that night.

Mr Murrell said Lucy had been seeing a therapist at the Brownhills eating disorder centre in Cheltenham as well as having regular meetings with her GP.

“The week leading up to her death had been difficult for her,” he told the hearing.

“She wanted to return to medical school but the Brownhills centre did not feel this was the right time for her and she found this upsetting.”

A statement from the centre said she had a long standing issue with severe anorexia and also had chronic depression and anxiety disorder.

It said: “She had a clear plan to try to return to medical school in October 2016. She had become increasingly fixated with that goal. She had been given an extension by the university to return in 2016 if she was considered well enough.

“She had said that if she did not attend medical school she would commit suicide. She was feeling under pressure to achieve that aim.

“In the last month it was increasingly evident that her eating disorder was conflicting with her wish to go back to medical school and she felt things were falling apart. The professionals caring for her had very real concerns about her going back to medical school. ”

Pathologist Professor Neil Sheppard said Lucy died from hanging.

At post mortem he found her to be “relatively thin” and her bones showed signs of osteoporosis, which was consistent with her having anorexia.

Gloucestershire coroner Katie Skerrett said: “She had a very clear goal. She wanted to get back to her medical studies. That was her dream; that was her passion. That had developed into what the clinicians called black and white thinking.

“She had thought she could achieve that goal but clearly she felt she had failed.

“Sadly it seems that Lucy decided at that point that she wanted to end her life.”

At the end of the hearing Lucy’s father read out a statement saying: “We wish to thank all the professionals, police, paramedics, and nurses and the public officials for dealing with this tragedy in a dignified and human way.”

The coroner ruled that Lucy died as a result of suicide.

At the time of the tragedy Lucy’s parents, who have two older daughters, said: “She had gained first class A-levels at Stroud High School and a place at Medical College at the University of Keele. She was a volunteer with the Health Recovery Team in the Gloucester Homeless Shelter, alongside her part time work.”

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