Beth Matthews Bio, Wikipedia, Age, Mental Health Blogger, Dies

Beth Matthews Bio – Beth Matthews Wikipedia

Beth Matthews, a British mental health blogger and accomplished yachtswoman, died at a secure psychiatric facility after she ingested a poisonous substance she bought from Russia — telling staff it was protein powder.

Ms Matthews was not supposed to open her mail at the Priory Cheadle Royal hospital in 2022 but did so after “inconsistencies” in her care, an inquest was told Monday, the Manchester Evening News reported.

Beth Matthews Age

She was 26 years old.

Mental Health Blogger Dies

Police coroner’s officer Claire Smith said Matthews’ phone revealed an order of the substance from Russia and several visits to online forums discussing suicide methods.

The Cornwall woman — who competed in the Fastnet yacht race when she was just 15 years old — died on March 21, 2022, under the supervision of the psychiatric hospital’s staff.

She was being treated in a secure ward for a personality disorder after being detained under the Mental Health Act for “specialist therapy,” the Times of London reported.

Smith told the inquest at Stockport Coroner’s Court that police determined that Matthews ordered the unidentified substance herself and that there was no criminality involved in her death, the Evening News said.

Matthews collapsed after opening the package that she told the staff contained protein powder. According to the report, she suffered cardiac arrest and was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

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The woman had frequently accessed a website with thousands of threads discussing suicide methods, one of which involved swallowing a poisonous substance that she “had attempted to purchase from a number of sources,” Smith said, the BBC reported.

David Watts, the Priory’s head of risk and safety, said it was “impossible” to monitor patients’ web browsing on cellphones — and explained that while the unit’s Wi-Fi has a firewall, patients can access some websites via their 4G and 5G connections, which staff can’t control, the Manchester paper said.

Trial

Assistant Coroner Andrew Bridgman told the jury that Matthews had “ingested a substance that came through the post, quite quickly became unwell [and] was taken urgently to hospital where she sadly died,” the Times of London reported.

Paramedic Kate Barnes said in a statement said that when she arrived, staffers told her that Matthews “had a parcel delivered to the unit, which she opened in front of them and managed to consume,” according to the outlet.

Barnes said that patients were allowed to open their mail if supervised by staff.

The inquest heard that Matthews had suffered from mental health issues from an early age and was diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder, the Times of London reported.

She was reportedly severely injured in a failed suicide attempt after jumping from a bridge in April 2019, according to the Manchester Evening News.

In a statement read during the hearing, Matthews’ mother, Jane, said her daughter was “an incredible character” who was “bright and vivacious” and “would light up the lives” of everyone she came across.