Young Woman 'Eats Herself to Death' at Care Facility

Kirsty Derry had a rare disorder called Prader Willi Syndrome
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 13, 2015 1:16 PM CDT
Young Woman 'Eats Herself to Death' at Care Facility
   (Shutterstock)

A young Englishwoman has died from overeating and may not have been properly treated for her unusual eating disorder, Fox News reports. Kirsty Derry lived at an assisted living home that had alarms on the fridge and cupboards to stop her from gorging. But the alarms were taken away in January 2013, and seven months later, Derry was dead at the age of 23, the Telegraph reports. "Of course I wanted her to stay at home with me, it's a mother's instinct—but I wanted her to be happy and have what she wanted," her mother, 50-year-old Julie Fallows, said at an inquest into her daughter's death. "I thought she'd be safe and happy in a supported living environment."

Doctors diagnosed Derry at age 2 with Prader Willi Syndrome, which gave her a constantly strong appetite. She developed diabetes and was later sent to the facility, Victoria Mews, in 2012. But the fridge and cupboard alarms there were removed for periods after Derry complained about them, according to testimony at the inquest, the Sentinel reports. At Victoria Mews, the 4-foot-8 woman's weight ballooned from 175 pounds to 266 pounds as she gorged on food including ice cream and chocolate. Her official cause of death: pulmonary edema, or lung fluid that stopped her from breathing. "Hopefully appropriate lessons have been learned," says a coroner who concluded her that her condition was not properly addressed. The care facility has since shut down. (More overeating stories.)

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