Coronial inquest into young woman’s suicide hears that the state government had let her down

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A coronial inquest has heard a young woman took her own life after feeling as if the state’s health system had let her down. Jenni Matters suffered from an eating disorder, with the court told one nurse asked her for diet tips.

Transcript

00:00All Jenny Matters wanted to do in life was to help people.

00:06The 24-year-old had just got her nursing degree, but an inquest heard she took her own life

00:12after suffering from an eating disorder for two years.

00:16She was 29 and a half kilograms when she died at Belair National Park in May 2021.

00:22Jenny had been admitted to the Flinders Medical Centre on various occasions, but her father

00:27told the court she was often mistreated, with one nurse commenting on how skinny she was

00:33and asking for diet tips.

00:36Jenny's heartbroken parents said they hope the inquest will help to shine a light on

00:40the lack of state and federal funding for the treatment of eating disorders.

00:45More focus, better training and more resources from the state and federal government results

00:52from the inquest, it won't all be for nothing.

00:56Medical assisting told the court there were just six specialised eating disorder beds

01:00in the state.

01:01She told the deputy coroner she would hear there were 10 to 14 patients sitting around

01:06in general wards like Jenny.

01:08You feel like you're the first one that's ever had an eating disorder when you're in

01:14the system because there's no resources available.

01:18The inquest into Jenny's death is expected to go into next week and we'll hear from several

01:23witnesses including the young woman's treating psychologist at the time of her death.

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