Lucy Meadows: Coroner tells press 'Shame on you'

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Well said, that coroner

www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/28/lucy-meadows-coroner-press-shame

I believe the children would have been just fine. You explain, they accept. It's not something bad, it's just something different. It would have been the adults making the big deal about it.

Never under estimate a child's ability to understand or cope nana

edam - I think I read (possibly on MN) that it originally appeared as a story in a local newspaper and then the nationals picked it up.

Edam, i think you're falling for the Mail's line, sadly. They are desperately trying to convince everyone that the suicide had nothing whatsoever to do with them, and they're trying to deflect attention from the coroner's absolutely justifiable comment. Because they absolutely should feel ashamed, and it is despicable that they apparently still won't admit it.

I'm not falling for anything - I'm no apologist for the Mail when it gets things badly wrong, as in this case. But we have do give this tragic woman the respect of listening to her. Listening to what she actually said:

"In a note she left, she made no mention of press intrusion, citing instead her debts, a number of bereavements including the death of her parents, and her stressful job as a primary school teacher.

"She insisted she was not depressed or mentally ill and thanked her friends, family and colleagues for their support, as well as messages she had received from well-wishers around the world.

"Her therapist, Zoe Hargreaves, told the inquest in a statement that Meadows had found the media attention stressful but "easier than she thought" ? largely because she was distracted by the death of someone she was in love with."

It seems entirely plausible that the coroner has gone off on a crusade of his own, and is using Lucy Meadows to do it, rather than listening to what she said. That's disrespectful. It is possibly not as repellent as Littlejohn, but it is equally wrong.

(And the story linked to by the OP is in the Guardian, not the Mail. The Guardian is hardly unsympathetic to victims of discrimination, or indeed press intrusion - given they exposed phone hacking.)

There was a radio 4 show where some teachers who had been through gender surgery discussed their experiences.

There was a lovely story where a teacher walked in an one of the pupils immediately changed the teacher's name on her exercise book from "Mr" to "Miss".

Children are very accepting and if you read the school newsletter where they told the children, it was really sensitively written.

Lucy's death was a massive tragedy, not just for her, but for lots of other trans people who would love to come out but fear receiving similar treatment.

R.I.P Lucy.

Edam, when you're about to commit suicide, providing a comprehensive account of everything that drove you to it isn't exactly at the top of your list of priorities. After all, she denied that she was depressed, which doesn't look too likely, does it? She was clearly upset enough about the reports to complain to the Press Commission.

And I really don't see how any of us can seriously say that the coroner was wrong based on a few sentences in a newspaper report. He is the one who heard all the evidence and saw all the reports.

And frankly, whether the reports drove her to suicide or not, the coroner was 100% correct to say that those responsible should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

I note that a couple of posts have told me "not to underestimate a child's ability to adapt or cope" and I would say in response "don't over estimate it either" I have worked with children for over 30 years and of course some children are more adaptable than others, and "cope" with such changes as the ones under discussion, but there will be others who I think could be confused. There are approx 30 children in a primary school class, and so there would be a wide variety of feelings and abilities to adjust to the gender change and "cope" as someone put it.

Of course it's a tragedy but none of us know exactly why this woman took her own life, and so I can't really see the point of a debate about it, because only Lucy knows why she did what she did. Neenypops how would you know what does or doesn't go through a person's mind when they are about to commit suicide? I am assuming you are fortunate enough never to have been in that position. You state that Lucy "denied that she was depressed, but that doesn't look likely does it" - I take it that in your opinion Lucy must have been depressed to take her own life. Whilst it is true that 25% of people with severe depression do commit suicide (not always at the first attempt) but not all people who commit suicide are depressed. Lucy said that she wasn't depressed and given that depression is a mood disorder and not a thinking disorder (as in psychotic illness) we must assume that Lucy was aware of her mental state.

I know a great deal about severe depression and suicidal thoughts through my own experience, and I think Neenypops that you need to be better informed about mental illness before making your assertions.

Yes RIP Lucy.

The press were wrong, whatever the outcome.

That's a very interesting post kim147 - I didn't know trans people have a very high level of suicide, so it seems that even changing gender doesn't always bring about fulfillment for the person involved.

Yes Moom I agree, but the press that you refer to are not called the "gutter press" for nothing. The sad thing is that so many people read the tabloids and believe what they read.

Nina Different sources give different numbers for Trans suicide attempts, but it's in the region of 40-65% of all transpeople have tried to kill themselves at least once. That is very very high.

Wow. I had no idea the rate of suicide attempts for trans people was so high - that's horrifying.

The poor woman had lost both parents and the person she loved, was desperately worried about debts, said she was stressed at work, and was transitioning as well, which I now see is linked to higher rates of suicide, and she was being mocked in the Daily Mail... there were so many dreadful pressures crowding in on her. It's so desperately sad.

Kim - I'm really saddened to hear that, I hope things pick up for you soon xxxxx

Kim, I really hope you get that job soon, the school will be lucky to have you!