Tragic death of Wesham teacher after years of laxative abuse was ‘misadventure’, court rules

Natalie Turner, 36, of Sandlering Way, weighed just five and a half stone when she was found unresponsive at her home at around 7.15am on October 27 2020. Her intestines showed evidence of laxative abuse, and a huge amount of pills were found in her stomach.

READ: 'Outstanding' Wesham teacher died after 20-year battle with eating disorder

At Blackpool town hall on Wednesday, coroner Alan Wilson ruled her death a misadventure – an accident as a result of a risk that was taken voluntarily.

The court heard previously that Mrs Turner, a mum of one, consumed huge amounts of laxatives every day in an attempt to control her weight, which had plummeted from nine stone in 2018.

However, she did not admit the extent of her laxative use until about four weeks before she died, her husband Andrew said.

Mr Wilson said: “Natalie Turner had for a number of years been abusing laxatives as part of a long-standing eating disorder. She had hidden the true extent of that abuse secret until November 2019.

"After being admitted to hospital on November 5 2019 in an acute condition, she needed to be provided with parenteral nutrition, and once stabilised she was discharged home on November 14, only to return to hospital on November 19 after ingesting more laxatives.

"Again stabilised, she returned home on December 9 with a view to receiving care from the home treatment team that was to involve regular assessment, and weekly physical monitoring including blood tests and weight checks.

Her condition did not initially raise significant concerns. On January 3 2020 she was discharged from the home treatment team, but it was envisaged that she would continue to receive regular physical monitoring. Such monitoring did not happen, in part because of Natalie's reluctance to engage with this, but also because the procedure usually followed at her GP surgery in order to encourage patients to undergo such monitoring was inadvertently not fully followed. This went unrecognised for a number of months.

"Throughout 2020, Natalie participated in some privately funded counselling sessions. By around April 2020, she had divulged to her counsellor that she was ingesting laxatives in significant quantities. By mid-June 2020, her counsellor was concerned for Natalie's welfare but preferring to respect Natalie's privacy she did not feel it appropriate to raise her concerns with medical professionals or Natalie's husband. This was an opportunity to provide some urgent medical attention.”

However, this medical attention was not provided, and Mrs Turner continued to abuse laxatives over the following months. By October 26 she was ‘noticeably unwell with vomiting and diarrhoea’ as a result of the pills, and she died the following day.

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