Nurses asked a young woman suffering from severe anorexia what her ‘secret to being skinny’ was shortly before she died, her grieving father has told a coronial inquest.
Jennifer Michelle Matters, 22, took her own life in May 2021 after a two year battle with the eating disorder.
The Adelaide nursing graduate and advanced biomedical science student told her friends and family that she was simply ‘exhausted’ at the time her death, when she weighed just 29.5kg.
Ms Matters’ death is now the centre of a coronial investigation which began on Monday, where details of her anorexia struggle were laid bare.
Shaun Matters told the inquest that his daughter has been admitted to Flinders Medical Centre countless times following her diagnosis.
He recalled how staff often treated Jenni like a burden and claimed that on one occasion two nurses asked her for diet tips, the Advertiser reported.
‘One day and the nurse said to Jenni ‘oh you’re so skinny’ and describing the eating disorder as skinny is a badge of honour, it’s not something you do with eating disorder patients,’ Mr Matters told the inquest
‘Another nurse asked for diet tips. She said ‘what’s your secret’?’
A coronial inquest into the death of Jennifer Michelle Matters (pictured) has heard the struggles she faced with hospital staff while battling anorexia for two years
Jenni Matters (pictured) weighed just 29.5kg at the time of her death
Jenni’s hospital admissions were both voluntarily and involuntarily.
She sought help from her GP, psychologist, psychiatrist and dietitian during her two year battle.
Her heartbroken father felt that nurses wanted anorexic patients to leave so there was space for ‘real patients’.
He described the hospital ward experience as very poor and claimed that some staff lacked empathy patients.
Mr Matters claimed to have heard a nurse describe Ms Matters as ‘the anorexic in the corner that you need to watch eat’ on another occasion.
‘We had to leave our daughter, that we loved dearly, and tell her it was the best place for her,’ he said.
‘What the staff don’t understand is that no one chooses this, it’s not a choice, it’s a disease. It’s a devastating illness.
‘They need to know it’s a disease people have to try and recover from, which is what it makes it so difficult.’
Mr Matters added the lack of funding for those struggling with eating disorders was also a major issue.
The inquest also heard how Ms Matters had hoped her death would ‘help others, even just one person’ and that the delivery of eating disorder services would be overhauled.
Her father, Shaun Matters (pictured), told the Adelaide Coroner’s Court that a nurse had asked what her ‘dieting tips’ were while she was seeking treatment for the disease
Ms Matters told her friends and family that she was simply ‘exhausted’ before taking her own life in May 2021, weighing just 29.5kg
Outside court, Mr Matters described his daughter as a ‘wonderful person’ who wanted ‘to help people’.
‘(She) was suffering a horrible disease, but still wanted to help people to the end,’ he told reporters.
He hoped the inquest will highlight the lack of resources being allocated to provide care for anorexia and other eating disorders.
‘If more focus, better training and more resources (are given) from the state and federal government … then it won’t all be for nothing,’ Mr Matters said.
The inquest continues.
If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline: 13 11 14, Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673.
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