AN INTELLIGENT UNIVERSITY student’s cause of death has been told as an overdose caused by diet pills, a coroner explained last Wednesday (25 January 2017).
Gifted student Anna Phillips, 20, from Truro, committed suicide after overdosing on the weight-loss pills which she bought from Turkey, via the internet.
It is urged that action is taken and people should stop buying ‘weightloss or diet’ pills online as they are thought to be highly unsafe. An inquest told that Anna was found semi-conscious at around 6am on grass in Falmouth on June 1, 2015. She was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, but later died of a heart attack.
Assistant coroner Andrew Cox said he was concerned by the apparent ease with which she bought the drugs and would immediately write a report for the secretary of state drawing attention to the case.
Anna, was an 11 A*s at GCSE at Truro High School for Girls, was described as a highly intelligent, kind and caring young woman.
Her mother Penny Phillips said: “I am grateful to the coroner for his recommendations which I hope will result in saving future lives. She was training to be a doctor, in her second year of medical school at Southampton University when she experienced her first psychotic episode. She received outstanding support from the pastoral team at the university.
“Anna was described by her friends as quirky, funny, inclusive, sensitive and just so darn clever. She was hugely caring and compassionate, and despite her own mental health problems, she showed a deep empathy towards others.”
Dr Phillips added: “Anna’s life was tragically cut short by mental illness but in her 20 years she impacted positively on so many people’s lives, and this will forever continue. However, the indescribable pain of losing my precious daughter, my only child, will also forever continue.”
Anna’s father David Phillips said he supported the actions of the coroner, adding: “I remember Anna as a very courageous girl who had tremendous empathy. It is the greatest privilege of my life to have known her.”
In April, 2015, she was seen climbing over a safety railing above Falmouth docks where it was believed she was going to take her life. After 72 hours at Longreach Mental Health Unit, she was discharged and returned home.
Dr Phillips, said she should have been kept in hospital. She said: “It is absolutely not correct, in my view, that Anna could not have been detained in hospital for her own safety until the appropriate treatment that she needed became available. Anna leaves behind distraught family and friends who cannot understand how this could happen.”
The assistant coroner Mr Cox said said: “Anna took a job in May at Treliske which [her mother] Dr Phillips felt was a last-ditched attempt to distract her from the noises in her head. We now know during this time she was ordering the drug that led to the fatal overdose.”
He praised the conscientious efforts of all the medical staff and said: “This was not a case where not enough was done. I regret I do not feel anything could realistically have been done to avoid this dreadful outcome.”
Mr Cox added that after Anna’s death, police found a letter which he was satisfied was a suicide note and he said: “I am sure both that Anna took her own life and that she intended to do so and accordingly I return a conclusion of suicide.”
Anyone concerned about their own health or may be thinking of suicide is advised to call the Samaritans on 116 123 or Papyrus’s confidential helpline 0800 068 41 41.