Dad of methadone-death girl 'feared she was manic depressive'

Published on Wednesday 11 June 2008 14:23

THE father of a teenager who died after being given methadone by a drug addict feared she was a manic depressive, an inquiry into her death has heard.

Jim Scott, 53, told how his daughter Danielle would "bounce off the walls" and feel "invincible" during high moments.

Speaking at a fatal accident inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today, Mr Scott referred to moments of "mania" displayed by Danielle when she would race through ambitious plans and become unaware of dangers.

Mr Scott, who said there had been a history in his family of bipolar disorder, said he wished he had told doctors who were assessing her for the illness.

Danielle was found dead at the age of just 17 in a flat in Sighthill in 2006. She had absconded from Howdenhall Young Person's Unit the day before.

Mr Scott, an electrician, said: "There were quite a few times where she would go off on a tangent, talking faster and faster about the things she was going to do and how she was going to get better.

"It would get to the stage where you couldn't understand what she was saying.

"When she was like that I don't think she realised the dangers she was putting herself into; for want of a better word, she thought she was invincible."

In a letter, assessing his own daughter's progress, he wrote to health workers: "When she is high, she disappears and bounces off the walls. When she is low she is ashamed of her actions."

At one stage Danielle was being assessed for bipolar disorder but Mr Scott said he felt doctors were reluctant to give a youngster the medication for the illness.

He said: "We were told she would need further assessment for bipolar.

"The medication is very strong and I got the impression that they were not prepared to commit to someone so young."

Mr Scott said he did not realise that bipolar disorder could run in families and had not mentioned the history of his own family to doctors.

But he insisted: "If I had been an expert in mental health I would have asked about it."

Peter Meaney, 29, has already been convicted and jailed over the death but Danielle's family claim the health care and social system failed their daughter.

Danielle spent years in hospitals and secure units dealing with emotional problems and eating disorders after she was bullied at secondary school.

The inquiry, set to last three weeks, continues.