A mom vents her disappointment on a supported living facility in Staffordshire, UK, when her daughter died of overeating.
Kirsty Derry, 23, has Prader-Willi syndrome, a very rare complex genetic disorder affecting less than 20,000 children in England. According to Genetics Home Reference, the disease is characterized by weak muscle tones during infancy. As the person gets older, he or she also develops insatiable appetite over food and experiences late mental development.
It's in her inability to control her food intake that had eventually caused the very high BMI of Kirsty, which was over 40, more than 15 points higher than the ideal BMI based on her height and gender. This made her morbidly obese and was therefore prone to several conditions including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
During an inquest, it's revealed that Kirsty died on July 20, 2013, due to pulmonary edema or the buildup of fluid in her lungs. She was discovered in a bungalow within the facility where she was living. According to her mother, Julie Fallows, her daughter was supposed to receive the best support and intervention from the social workers of Victoria Mews between 8 in the morning and 10 in the evening.
Initially, they had taken some steps, including setting up alarms in cupboards and refrigerator, which had also been locked, preventing access to food. If Kirsty would try to remove the lock, the alarms would then sound off, alerting the staff.
Later, however, these locks were removed without the consent of Kirsty's family, which meant Kirsty could now eat whatever she wanted, and the effects were immediate. In one of her visits to her daughter, Julie noticed how her legs had swollen that she couldn't fit her feet into her shoes.
Julie expressed her frustration over the apparent lack of support from social workers, who she claimed weren't always around when she would visit. She thinks they didn't understand the actual condition of Kirsty.
The workers, in their defense, said it was Kirsty's choice not to be brought to the hospital and that they decided to remove the locks after she complained of being annoyed by the devices.
