Lampard inquiry: Sister of woman who killed herself to ‘hear her voice’

In a photo her sister treasures, Paula Parretti smiles brightly. It was taken as soon as half of her hair decided to be bright pink.

“She was a wonderful aunt, like a fun aunt,” recalls Sam Cooke.

“She was always there for my kids. Laughing, joking, buying them the loudest toys, all those fun things and she just wanted to see them grow.”

But Paula died in January 2022. She was found in her apartment by Sam.

“I want to see her beautiful face as a memory, but I don’t. I see that last image,” Sam says.

read more:
What is the Lampard inquiry – and what does it investigate?
The deaths of thousands of mental health patients in Essex are to be investigated
The mental health death toll in Essex is significantly over 2,000

A few weeks ago, Paula had been discharged from the hospital, although she was suffering from severe depression.

“They dropped her bags at my feet and said, ‘You have to take her home, we need the bed,'” Sam recalls.

“I said, ‘Can’t you see she’s getting nervous?’ They said, ‘sorry, but we have a lot of people who need help’ so I had to take her home and it didn’t make sense to listen to me.

Sam is set to become one of the first relatives to speak on behalf of loved ones at a public inquiry into the deaths of thousands of mental health patients in Essex.

The Lampard inquiry began last week with its chair, Baroness Lampard, saying the death toll would be significantly higher than the 2,000 considered by a previous inquiry.

All patients died between 2000 and 2023.

Sam says she never listened to her sister. During a previous stay at the Linden Centre, a mental health unit in Essex, she says Paula suffered broken ribs and bruises at the hands of staff. She says the NHS trust admitted fault after the incident and paid some compensation.

Paul Scott, chief executive of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, said in a statement to Sky News: “My thoughts are with Paula’s family at this difficult time and I am saddened by the distress caused during Paula’s care and offer my deepest condolences for their loss. for.”

Sam says she is determined to keep fighting for change so that other patients don’t suffer like her sister.

“After she died, I promised myself that I would hear her voice… Now I am finally giving her her voice,” she says.

Before her sister’s death, Sam also lost a cousin and a friend, both of whom were struggling with their mental health.

Since her death was posted online, she has been contacted by those concerned about mental health services across the country.

“It’s all over the country,” says Sam. “People say they have only one cure. They ask for help.

“I think people think they won’t talk. If they talk, will they be believed? Or will people put it down to their mental health?

“I think we need families to really put out that these people are people. Just because they have mental health issues, that doesn’t mean they’re any less of a person. They have a family, they have loving mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles. “

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or feeling suicidal can contact Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the United States, call your local Samaritan branch or 1 (800) 273-TALK.