Inquest hears of teenager's year-long struggle
An annorexic Wimbledon teenager was beyond the help of doctors when she was taken into hospital, an inquest has been told.
Anna Wood, a 16-year-old former pupil of Wimbledon High School, died in intensive care after a year-long fight against annorexia.
She died in St George's Hospital in Tooting on March 26, more than five weeks after she was admitted when she collapsed in the street.
Anna, from Wimbledon, died from a heart attack and secondary multi-organ failure, which were attributed to her anorexia, the inquest before Dr Shirley Radcliffe at Westminster Coroner's Court was told.
The inquest heard her sodium levels were chronically low, probably because she had taken too much water, and her body had no reserve to repair itself.
Anna had been admitted to St George's on February 11 but was discharged the next day. She was readmitted on February 15 then transferred to the Priory Clinic in Roehampton, but her condition deteriorated.
Her battle against annorexia had involved a previous stay at St George's and the Priory Clinic in Roehampton as well as the Capio Nightingale Hospital in Marylebone and the Priory Clinic in Chelmsford.
November 8, 2010