Teenager with toilet phobia died from heart attack caused by constipation

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Rob Waugh for Metro.co.uk


http://i.imgur.com/pj8MHgU.jpg

A teenager died from a heart attack caused by constipation, an inquest heard yesterday.

Emily Titterington is believed to have suffered from ‘stool withholding’ and would go for up to eight weeks without using the loo, the hearing was told.

The 16-year-old collapsed at her home in St Austell, Cornwall, on February 8, 2013, and later died.

Eventually her bowel grew so large it compressed her chest cavity and caused the displacement of other organs.

The inquest heard how her life could have been saved with appropriate treatment but she had refused to be medically examined.

The hearing in Truro continues.

[DemonGeminiX]

Wow, that's shitty. Don't have any info on the family situation, and this might be a bit insensitive, but I wonder if the family gave a crap.

[redred]

A 16-year-old died from chronic constipation because either she, or she and her parents, resisted the care she needed, a coroner has said.
Emily Titterington had not been to the toilet for three months when she suffered a cardiac arrest at home.
An inquest heard the condition was so bad that some body parts had been displaced, including her diaphragm.
The Coroner for Cornwall concluded the cause of death was "natural causes contributed by psycho-social factors".
Summing up, Dr Emma Carlyon said it could have been prevented.
"Something went wrong with the patient-parent-professional triangle which meant she did not get the care she needed," she said.
Paramedics described their "shock" at Emily's "grossly extended abdomen" when she collapsed at St Austell in February 2013 and said she was "vomiting faeces".
'Parental anxieties'
The inquest was told that Emily, who was home-educated, had a history of constipation that could be linked to her anxiety and mild autism.
Her sister Hannah Herbert raised concerns about the impact "parental anxieties" had on her, and said she had warned social services "something terrible might happen" the year before.
Her brother-in-law Brian Herbert told the inquest Emily's decision not to be examined or go to hospital would have been influenced by the fact her parents "could not cope" with that.
However Emily's GP, Dr Alistair James, said her mother Geraldine Titterington had tried to persuade her to be examined and he found no evidence of safeguarding issues.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Paul Davis said "self-neglect" played a part in her death but she should have been persuaded to go to hospital.
A serious case review by Cornwall Council's Safeguarding Children Board has made several recommendations including that agencies share concerns raised by a family member.
Dr Carlyon said she was satisfied "most of the recommendations have been actioned and embedded".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-33357284

[Oofty Goofty]

Her condition can probably be traced back to how she was potty trained as a child.

[Goofy]

Wow, that's shitty. Don't have any info on the family situation, and this might be a bit insensitive, but I wonder if the family gave a crap.

:tumble:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

...and would go for up to eight weeks without using the loo, the hearing was told.

How is that even possible? :shock: :confused:

[Hal-9000]

I had a problem that turned out to be all of the good and bad bacteria in my stomach/bowels was evacuated...I was sick for over 16 months.....like REAL sick...

Blood tests initially pointed at super high enzymes in my pancreas and at one point my doc, then the GI specialist wanted to hospitalize me.

It begs for jokes but not using the bathroom for weeks at a time is painful and it was the sickest I've ever felt without having food poisoning. I remember one day after they figured it out I felt actually hungry..and that was a feeling I had missed for a year and a half...it can be brutal if you're not careful