Eight year-old British girl starves herself to death

[Chic Freak]

How fucked is this? I haven't heard of anything like this happening in a developed country for a while. Here's an excerpt: Fear of dentists killed child Doctors failed to diagnose a psychological syndrome that made a schoolgirl starve herself to death, an inquest heard. Sophie Waller, eight, had an extreme phobia of dentists and the "severity of her condition was not realised", Coroner for Cornwall Dr Emma Carlyon said. Sophie refused to eat, sleep or drink after her milk teeth came loose, the inquest into her death heard. The schoolgirl from St Dennis, Cornwall, had an operation to remove all eight of her milk teeth and was discharged from hospital. But she continued to refuse food and died two weeks later on December 2, 2005. Full article here. I'm not quite sure why we're only hearing about it 3 years later... It mentioned on the news that having those milk teeth removed while she was under sedation actively made her worse. Interestingly (to me) the TV article also suggested that it was losing her teeth, rather than dentists per se, that motivated her fear. Less interestingly, the hospital she was treated at is also the one I was born at (I'm Cornish)!

[capncnut]

Sophie Waller, eight, had an extreme phobia of dentists and the "severity of her condition was not realised", Coroner for Cornwall Dr Emma Carlyon said. 'Severity of her condition'? Her phobia or the fact that the poor little mite was starving to death? Either way, it's not good enough.

[blind2d]

This is so sad... but, er... what are "milk teeth"?

[SRP76]

This is so sad... but, er... what are "milk teeth"? The teeth you lose when you're a kid, put under your pillow, and hope the Tooth Fairy comes to pay you for.

[Chic Freak]

This is so sad... but, er... what are "milk teeth"? Baby teeth.

[Skippy911sc]

Wouldn't the prudent thing have been to put some tubes in the girl to get nutrients into her? When my son got the flu a few years back he refused to eat and drink so we took him the the hospital and they hooked him into an IV to keep him hydrated...shouldn't we blame the parents and doctors at this point!

[darth los]

Someone was definitely negligent. How do you let a child waste away until they die? Do they have child protective services over there?

[Mr.G]

Someone was definitely negligent. How do you let a child waste away until they die? Do they have child protective services over there? My thoughts exactly. This was a very avoidable death.

[Chic Freak]

Wouldn't the prudent thing have been to put some tubes in the girl to get nutrients into her? They did, and when she reached a healthy weight they sent her home, after which she starved herself to death. Someone was definitely negligent. How do you let a child waste away until they die? Do they have child protective services over there? Yes. Apparently the parents wanted the hospital to re-admit her, but they said it wasn't necessary. I don't know whether they just called the hospital or physically took the girl there and were refused. Either way, the mind boggles as to how either party could let her starve to death. There's a much better article here. Some choice quotes: Sophie’s parents, Janet and Richard Waller, tried to alert doctors at the Royal Cornwall Hospital that their daughter had lost weight and was seriously ill but were told to wait for an appointment with a child psychologist. Emma Carlyon, the coroner for Cornwall, said in a narrative verdict that prompt medical attention could have prevented her death. She also said that the hospital had failed to contact Sophie’s GP. The inquest heard that Sophie had had a phobia of dentists since the age of four after her tongue was nicked during a routine check up. When she broke a milk tooth on a boiled sweet four years later she clamped her mouth shut and refused to see a dentist despite being in pain. Her parents took her to hospital where doctors decided to remove eight milk teeth under anaesthetic to avoid future traumas. She was kept in under observation for eleven days and died 12 days after returning home. During that time she had refused to eat or drink and her weight had fallen to just three stone. Dr Arnon Bentovim, a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, told the inquest there had been a failure by medical teams. He said that Sophie was suffering a rare condition known as pervasive refusal syndrome and that she should have been given a full psychological examination before the tooth surgery. There is a pdf on pervasive refusal syndrome here. It was published the year before Sophie's death. The 'Definition' paragraph suggests that PRS might still not be in the DSM (i.e. not officially recognised as existing yet) although it doesn't seem 100% clear? Anyway, if you can't be bothered to read it all (I just skimmed it) it says that PRS is partly to do with learned helplessness, whereby a child has learned from experience that they have no control over a traumatic world and respond by becoming very passive (e.g. just staying in the foetal position and not eating or speaking). Because they need to be "taught" that they do have some control over their lives to make them better, it recommends being careful not to make the child feel forced into therapy as that can just reinforce their sense of powerlessness- so imagine what being operated on without consent and losing 8 teeth must have been like for her It also says that up to the time of writing no child had ever been successfully treated from home.