Alice Litman: Trans woman’s death was ‘preventable with right support’, mother says
“I believe my daughter could have lived a happy healthy life had she not been failed”
The mother of a young trans woman who died by suicide has told her inquest she believes her daughter would still be alive if she had been offered sufficient care.
Alice Litman, 20, died in May 2022 after waiting over three years for an initial assessment. She was referred to NHS Gender Identity Development Service in 2019, and was still waiting when she died 1,023 days later.
An inquest into her death began on Monday (18 September) at Sussex County Cricket Ground, Hove.
The court heard Ms Litman first told her sister she felt she was a woman in September 2018, and went to see a doctor about her gender identity that year.
“The abrupt cut-off in mental health support when Alice turned 18 also had a real impact on her”
In a statement read out in court, her mother Dr Caroline Litman said: “I do not want any other transgender person to face a future with as much despair as Alice did.
“I do not want another parent to live the rest of their life with their child in a jar on the mantlepiece, instead of in their warm embrace.
“I believe Alice’s death was preventable with access to the right support, and that change must happen.”
Ms Litman was referred to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) in 2019, following a suicide attempt.
She attempted to take her own life again later that year, but Dr Litman said mental health services did not take her daughter seriously enough.
As a former NHS employee herself, Ms Litman’s mother spoke of the “shame” she felt that she was unable to “get my daughter past the gatekeepers”
Dr Litman added: “The abrupt cut-off in mental health support when Alice turned 18 also had a real impact on her.
“I believe Alice’s death was preventable with access to the right support”
“It did not seem that adult services (CMHRS) took her self-harm history, and the impact of gender-affirming treatment delays on her emotional wellbeing, seriously enough. CMHRS’ co-ordination with CAMHS in assessing her needs, in my view, was totally inadequate.
“Alice was suddenly cast out of care because she did not meet the adult threshold for intervention, despite having been identified as needing support the week before.
“The sudden switch between services (and thresholds for support) on the day she turned 18 left her abandoned at a moment when she particularly needed help,” she said.
The court also heard from Michael Webberly on Tuesday (19 September), co-founder of Gender GP, who met Alice in September 2019.
Her parents reached out to Mr Webberly due to the long waiting list at the Tavistock and Portman Foundation.
He said: “We see so many people let down by the NHS. The extraordinarily long waiting list is causing severe mental health rates for trans people.
“The unacceptable suicide and self-harm rates in this group is a travesty.”
The inquest continues.