The parents of a 15-year-old girl who took her own life have told an inquest they believe her death was linked to an acne drug she had been taking for about six months.
Annabel Wright, from Ripon, was found in her bedroom by family members in May 2019 after being prescribed the drug Roaccutane the previous year.
Her mother, Helen Wright, told an inquest in Northallerton that her daughter had shown no signs of depression and her death “just didn’t make any sense”.
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Annabel saw her GP about her acne at the age of 12 and was later referred to a dermatologist at Harrogate District Hospital when she was 14.
Mrs Wright said she raised the issue of suicide being a potential side effect, at their first appointment at the hospital in October 2018, when the doctor suggested Roaccutane.
Mrs Wright told the inquest that the doctor told her that people may take their own lives because they are depressed about their acne.
She said: “And Annabel wasn’t. She wasn’t depressed about her skin.”
Side effects
Mrs Wright said she was given a leaflet that listed potential side effects – which assistant coroner Jonathan Leach said included changes in mood and behaviour.
Reading from the leaflet during the inquest, Mr Leach said it warned patients to inform their doctor if their mood changed, or if they started having thoughts of self-harm, while taking the medication.
Mrs Wright said: “If you sit opposite an expert in their field and they’ve said to you, ‘it could be argued it’s because children are depressed about their acne’, it sways your thinking.”
She added: “I wasn’t made aware that suicidal impulses could overcome a perfectly normal person.”
Mrs Wright told the inquest that Annabel’s medication was also sometimes given to her in a plain box containing no patient information leaflet.
The inquest heard that Annabel “scratched” her wrists with a razor in January 2019, shortly after she had been heard laughing on the phone to her friends in her bedroom.
When her mother asked her about why she had done it she told her: “I felt down.”
Mrs Wright said: “She couldn’t explain it and I couldn’t understand.”
She said they did not tell doctors about the incident because self-harm had never been discussed.
“It never occurred to me this might be because of the drug,” she said.
“I was looking out for depression with Annabel, and low mood, thinking that would be a precursor to what eventually happened, but it wasn’t.”
Annabel’s father, Simon Wright, added: “We thought it was just silliness and a stern talking to, followed by some love and affection, was all that was required.”
‘Made no sense’
Annabel’s dose of Roaccutane, which was reviewed every four weeks, was increased in January 2019 and again in March, the inquest heard.
But, at an appointment on 1 May, doctors said they would recommend that the dosage was reduced.
Later that night, Annabel’s family members found her dead in her bedroom, the inquest heard.
When asked by Mr Leach why she thought her daughter’s death and the medication she was on were linked, Mrs Wright said: “It just didn’t make any sense. Why would somebody go from being totally happy to killing themselves?”
She added: “It came over her in a wave, I’m sure of it.”
Mrs Wright continued: “There was nothing that indicated she had been planning anything.
“Her last words to me were ‘don’t wash my trousers, I’ll need them tomorrow’.”
Mr Wright said he had an “every day, normal conversation” with his daughter on the evening of her death.
He said: “I would have known if she was agitated or crying. It was just nothing.”
Mr Wright told the inquest he believed Annabel’s death was linked to Roaccutane.
He said: “There was no precursor of depression, mood change, being morose or anything like that.
“Annabel was Annabel and that’s why I believe it was linked.”