Published: 12 January, 2012
by TOM FOOT

Tortured by cancer, tragic Tracy took her life on Heath

TRACY Manning never got over being diagnosed with cancer, despite successful operations to remove a lump in her throat.

Her mother, Doreen Kendall, said she became “obsessed” by the disease and was plagued by fears it would one day return.

Tracy – a mother of three and former beauty contest finalist – would spend hours trawling the internet for information about cancer.

“She couldn’t cope with the knowledge of her cancer,” said Mrs Manning, 74. “She was a shocking worrier.”

On November 5, 2009, Tracy left the Royal Free Hospital and hanged herself on Hampstead Heath. The 43-year-old inpatient, who had ear­lier taken an overdose of painkillers, had walked out of a ward after a liver transplant.

She had been told that the donor liver had been infected with hepatitis B.

Mrs Kendall, who lives in Walthamstow, told the New Journal she felt “failed” by the hospital because Tracy had been categorised as being at “low risk” of self-harm following an assessment by a trainee psychiatrist. It meant she was not put on a secure ward and was able to freely leave the hospital.

Mrs Kendall said that, after two years spent in the official complaints procedure, she wanted the hospital “to take responsibility” for her daughter’s death, adding: “I am not fighting for money, I am fighting for them to recognise their mistake.

They said she was ‘low risk’ but that was utterly ridiculous.

She needed help.

You could see the anxiety, the stress she was under.

“We had no idea she was assessed as low-risk. If we had known, we would have disputed it. I feel she was failed.”

The Royal Free carried out the transplant operation without informing the family as to where the organ had come from. 

A few days later Tracy walked out of the front entrance of the hospital in her bathrobe.

At the inquest into her death at St Pancras Coroner’s Court, coroner Dr Andrew Reid recorded a verdict of suicide.

Mrs Kendall said that following an assessment, officials in the office of the Health Ombudsman had decided not to investigate her complaint.

Among her boxes of photographs, letters and documents relating to the case, Mrs Kendall has a letter from the Lib Dem health minister Simon Burns saying nothing more could be done.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Free said: “We would like to convey our deepest sympathies to Tracy Manning’s family.

Ms Manning received regular assessments from the psychiatric ­liaison team. We have investigated the complaint made by her ­mother, Ms Kendall, and responded to her concerns.

“We set up a meeting in June 2009 to allow the family to talk to the ­clinicians involved in more detail. The Health Ombudsman is satisfied that we have responded to the complaint appropriately and has confirmed that there will not be an external investi­gation.”