The parents of a student who took her own life are suing her university, saying it"failed in its legal duties".
Her family argues that her death was caused by"discrimination" she suffered as a result of a social anxiety disorder. Robert and Margaret Abrahart, from West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, said their daughter was"bright and academically able" but experienced anxiety and panic attacks over giving group presentations."The fear of failing, not performing, or not progressing on the course affected her deeply and she became pre-occupied by feelings of worthlessness.
"Instead the university continued to put her through the ordeal of oral assessments and downgraded her when she performed badly or couldn't face attending," Mr Abrahart added.
No anyone should have to suicide at school! The university should have lots of responsibility for this kind of event
Duty of care each for each other ... always ...
They possibly need to look closer to home
I have a daughter who struggled at another university for the same reasons. Unable to finish despite being a shoe-in for a first.
Universities have a lot to answer for with their state sponsored deception. A scam to keep the unemployment figures down.
Poor kid. Probably bullied and harassed, which made her take her own life. People can be so cruel 😣
At the end of the day its not the University's fault that this girl had mental health problems that lead her to taking her life. You don't have to go to University to get on in your life and achieve a good life, working & a career.
Parental grief mixed with a the joy of a sniff of a potential pay-out. There will be other, or a culmination of, reason why she decided to die, rather than solely, if at all, the University. Let her go - you are making yourselves look idiots. May Natasha rest in peace.
Not just one Uni, changes are needed to the system. Children are protected by safeguarding at school/college. Once they are 18 parents cannot be contacted. In my sons experience there has been little pastoral care. Disability officer good but info not shared with tutors
Why does it always have to come down to suing for money
Very sad news to hear the passing of Natasha Abrahart. She died at very young age. It’s the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust job is to help people with anxiety and panic attacks. But not neglecting them. Please give her loving parents strength and time to heal.
Unfortunately mental health is a very complex thing. There is never only one factor and blame doesn’t help we just need to learn from this. Her the transition from child to adult must have been tough for her having mental heath issues. God bless you Natasha.
Very sad news hear the passing of Natasha Abrahart. She died at very young age. Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust should’ve helped her not turn their back on her. Losing a child is very painful. Please give her loving parents strength and time to heal. RIP
I always thought it was the parents responsibility to look after their child, does that stop when they go to uni? Dont think so.
Very sad news hear the passing of Natasha Abrahart. She died at very young age. Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust should’ve helped her not turn their back on her. Losing a child is very painful. Please her loving parents strength and time to heal. RIP
University only cares about money
er sorry your her parents that is your job to look after your gift why when anything goes wrong you have to look else where for the blame
My son is Autistic and coping with exams/assessments was very difficult. When choosing a uni course we looked at ones that did not involve sitting exams but based on assessments. He did very well and now has a career in television. Choose the course to fit your strengths.
Wonder how much they are going to sue for? Mind you, where there's no blame there's no claim..
Britain 2020 really is a disgrace
11 suicides in 2 years at the University... maybe Bristol should focus on the present rather than 200 year old statues..during my time at University no one killed themselves...
This should spark a wider debate in education and society about resilience in the young. Are we raising a generation unable to cope with life's issues and expecting all problems to be removed from their path? We may have, inadvertently, infantilised our youngsters.
Money grabbers.
Such a sad loss. My daughter suffered from the same anxiety, and was unable to address a class. She reached out to the University Mental Health team and received help. It was the University of Florida.
This is a tragic case by basically she could not cope with the pressures of University. Therefore she should have dropped out. The University should not be lowering its standards for one person because they can’t cope. But of course the parents see £ signs not how they failed her
'found no fault on its part.' Literally, I don't understand They took the opportunity to say we did what we could and refer to implying that mental health is at the heart. The university needs to take this issue heavily.
This is an oxymoron
They parents are mad amd seriously deluded. Before she went to uni she was under whose care Them..cld.it be their. Parenting that helped her get the anxiety..sorry for ur loss and all but get a grip.. jow the uni is to blame.i dont know..uni is.not.a.child watcher babysiter
Ridiculous
So the parents knew all about her mental condition, but it's the university's fault for not looking after her?
As sad as it is , It’s questionable whether she should have been at University in the first place.
I wish them luck, it sounds like their daughter didn't get the support she needed, she did incredibly well to be on that course with social anxiety disorder it must have been so hard for her. It breaks my heart she died like this.
R. I. P.
I hate to say it, the parents set off the first domino in the sequence before this girl even became a teenager. Parental infanticide by negligent psychological rearing.
The parents are quite right to bring this to the publics attention,however if her parents were unable to make an intervention it’s also a tall order to expect the mental health department of the university to have successfully intervened,she should have been to sent to a clinic
Her parents knew all that and allowed/encouraged/persuaded her to continue. This sounds like they may be displacing a guilt they can't bear to face. For potential future employers, a reasonable adjustment to the course would not be to remove presentations because she panics.
Or maybe the parents should’ve taken more responsibility once they knew their daughters condition? All to easy to blame someone else. If the poor girl had a fear of not performing then maybe university wasn’t the right place for her.
If anyone drives past the university of Bristol as the students are coming and going it quickly becomes evident that most of the students walk alone. The groups I often see together are from certain races or religions as they have that in common. Others feel totally isolated.
' Legal duties ' , an interesting talking point.
Very sad but was the course too much and how much responsibility lies with the uni?We are now into blame and sue culture in this country which is also sad.The solicitors prosper but this won't bring the girl back
The court will find out what sort of support she’s been receiving by the university. You’ll be amazed how fragile kids at universities these days. They’re having daily breakdown. Universities usually do their best to support “customers” so that they can keep the numbers too.
They did have a duty of care. Seems like she was failed by Uni and mental health services. Very sad
I too suffered from mental health problems during second year physics. I think there must be something seriously wrong as we weren’t alone in this. I suspended my studies until the new term but that meant I wasn’t entitled to support. I ended up not going back.
😐 compo faces incoming
Why does a physics student have to keep giving open class presentations, especially when records will show the anxiety issues.
Good. Universities have a duty of care including mental health issues. I’m so glad my son went to a university that actually helped him with mental health issues and didn’t just abandon him
And the lamestream media couldn't wait to report this to stir up hate and fear, their daily mantra
She’s in uni, she’s an adult. It’s her responsibility. It’s very sad when someone commits suicide but why is it then blamed on some one else?!! She could’ve taken a break from uni or decided to talk to someone about it.
Jeez, student kills herself so someone else MUST be to blame.This sue culture in the UK is the reason why we pussyfoot around everything and everyone these days, it's a fact that their daughter didn't consider the consequences of her actions but that's not Uni's fault it's hers.
If my child was struggling at university I would bring her home and get her help, starting with me.
Feel for the parents, lashing out & looking for someone, anyone to blame. Sincerely hope they have a responsible legal team rather than some win-at-all-costs vultures.
buried way deep is '11 students killed themselves between 2016 and 2018'. There's a reason why suddenly young people in higher education see any failure now as a life ending problem — the huge amount of sunk cost (higher tuition fees) and the insanely competitive job market
In reality how would the other students feel when they find out a fellow student doesn’t have to go through the same assessment methods as they do and essentially have a course tailor made yet still gain the same qualifications? How far do we go if every student claimed similar?
Schools, colleges and universities need to understand that mental illnesses can not be helped, it’s not something you can control. Mental health is just as important than physical health. Schools should starting treating it that way.
Not easy for Universities. Either a course involves group presentations etc. or it doesn't. It's not fair to other students. She should have dropped out a year to work on her MH issues and only returned if capable.
Sounds like her poor parents are just looking for someone to blame, so sad.
My lord thats awful. However surely she should have been removed from uni for a period of time so she could return home and have proper treatment for the issues that were affecting her? Hindsight tho, so easy for me to suggest a remedy.
We now have a litigious society, which seeks to blame others for our own misfortunes Sometimes, this identifies a failure of responsibility But we must also accept our own responsibilities. It's not always someone else's fault
Universities are sometimes humanless.
Whilst all institutions have a duty of care, so do parents so, before trying to blame others, make sure that you do not carry some of the responsibly yourselves for your daughters death.
I think as educators we need appreciate that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that insisting that people learn in a way that impacts their mental health isn’t going to work. We need to find creative ways of the relieving pressure while enabling our young people to learn - so sad
Has anyone done an investigation into the deaths / suicides / rapes in UK universities? How many stories do you want?
An inquest said the University was not at fault.
Parents are hurting, blame is one of their many emotions.
why not think about the reason that the girl's suicide?Maybe they can find the true in themselves.
She was an adult, therefore it comes down to personal responsibility. Family & medical the professionals consultants, have more responsibility than the university.
Can understand this but it’s not really valid blame. I struggled with the same things and there is only so much a university can do. The real help lines within mental health teams where they can give tailored support/therapy. Sad reality of it is this is often how it ends.
The parents are in unimaginable pain, I feel this is driven by that rather than a tangible failure by the university.
Parental responsibility finishes when they carted her off to Uni then?
Yeah, 👍👍
I do understand grief, but this makes no sense
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