‘How did I let her go there?’: mother laments daughter’s private hospital death

Caroline Sharp wonders why her daughter Emma Pring, who died at the Cygnet in Maidstone, couldn't have been treated by the NHS

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Caroline Sharp believed that when her daughter Emma Pring was admitted for treatment at the private Cygnet hospital in Maidstone, it would be a turning point in her daughter's life. In some ways it was my naivety, but I really did think she was getting the best care," Sharp says.

During the inquest to establish how and why her daughter died while an inpatient at the hospital, and after hearing the evidence given by the staff, Sharp remembers thinking: How on earth did I let my daughter go there?"

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

Caroline Sharp was represented by Tara Mulcair at Birnberg Peirce, a firm which specialises in representing bereaved families in inquest proceedings.