Mental health teams 'lost' student who died after laughing gas abuse, brother says

Long-term misuse of nitrous oxide contributed to the death of 24-year-old student Ellen Mercer, an inquest heard, but her brother says her mental health also contributed, as ITV News' Ellie Pitt reports

The brother of Ellen Mercer, 24, who may have died as a result of long-term use of laughing gas, has said that while the coroner made "the correct decision", he believes an important aspect of her death was "a long struggle with mental health".

"If more resources were available to helping people with mental health issues I think things like this in the future could be avoided," Joe Mercer told ITV News.

The coroner ruled that Ms Mercer may have died because she inhaled two to three "big bottles" of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, every day.

She was taken to hospital by the emergency services in the early hours of February 9 last year after she was reportedly left unable to walk and falling over when she tried, Berkshire coroner’s court heard.

Ms Mercer was also diagnosed as bipolar and the inquest heard on Wednesday that mental health teams had stopped following up with her, admitting she had been "lost".

"The phrase 'lost to follow up' was used today when talking about how the mental health teams handled things and obviously that's tragic to hear," Mr Mercer said, reflecting on the hearing to establish why his sister died.

Mr Mercer accepted the ruling that nitrous oxide could have been the cause of his sister's death, saying "it seemed reasonable within the scope of what they were looking at".

However, he also believed it "was a loss due to mental health, a long struggle with mental health".

"She was absolutely full of energy her entire life," Mr Mercer said of his sister, describing her as an overwhelmingly positive person who really seemed to deeply care about others.

"That's been the hardest part of it really, just knowing there are no more opportunities to go spend time with her or hear her waffle on about her day," he said.

"I hope that Ellen is resting easy now and that she's in good company, that she's not suffering anymore," Mr Mercer told ITV News.

Nitrous oxide for personal use was not illegal at the time of Ms Mercer's death, but was classified as a class C drug in November.

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