DANNY McCARTAN    (Posted 1st March 2006)  | News Archive

Tragic case of suicide teen Danny
Review over level of care on offer.

By Nigel Gould

01 March 2006
An independent review has been ordered into the circumstances around the death of an Ulster teenager who committed suicide last year, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today.

Danny McCartan (18) took his own life last April. He was found hanged in a derelict house near his north Belfast home.The apprentice joiner's dreams of starting a new life in the United States were shattered after anti-depressant tablets bloated his body and brought back the weight taunts that tormented his childhood.The teenager had to wait to see a psychiatrist.When it came to treatment, though, there was no appropriate bed and he was sent to an adult ward.Months later he was dead.
Last August his distraught family held talks with Health Minister Shaun Woodward at a major suicide prevention conference in Belfast.At the time they had called on health chiefs to do something "for the people of Northern Ireland".

The Telegraph understands Mr Woodward had further talks last night with Danny's parents, Gerard and Carol at their home in Oldpark.They had expressed concern about the medical support their son had been given.Mr Woodward said: "I have asked the Eastern Health Board to commission an independent review into the circumstances surrounding the death of Danny McCartan and the treatment and care offered to him by the Health and Social Care system.

"The untimely death of Danny is a tragedy for his family. "We need to establish whether lessons can be learnt so that such tragedies are avoided as far as possible in the future."
A Department of Health source said the terms of reference for the review would be established in the near future.Last August, dad, Gerard recalled the events leading up to his son's death. He said: "Danny was 6ft and slim, but when he was younger he was small and heavy. He got taunted at school and they came back again. "In the four weeks leading up to his death he was getting more withdrawn, and then an appointment with his psychiatrist in April was cancelled until October without explanation.

"The day he died Danny came down and spoke to the nurse, he was willing to go into any place to get his head all cleared but we were told there were no beds."There's a whole lot of answers we are still looking for. I believe if Danny had seen the psychiatrist he would still be alive."

Last July, Mr Woodward told the Belfast Telegraph how he was making the issue of suicide his number one priority. Announcing the setting up of a special Task Force, he said: "We want to know why some 150 people take their lives every year here."